What should my daily calcium intake be?

Recent studies show that the majority of the population in the UK are calcium deficient. If you’re wondering what your daily calcium intake should be, read on and see how much you are getting in your diet on a day to day basis.

Firstly, the recommended amounts for a daily calcium intake are:

As you can see, there’s some leeway as to how much you take, but reaching the daily upper limit and over could result in hypercalcaemia, or high blood calcium levels, which can a very serious condition. Hypercalcaemia can be easily rectified with an intravenous drip and a change in diet. However, if it goes untreated, could result in death.

Hypocalcaemia – or low blood calcium levels – are also not advise, but perhaps not as easily dangerous as high levels. If you are suffering from this condition, you will see a few symptoms of this, mainly externally – hair loss, broken skin, failure or slowness in healing and general tiredness.

Because of this, it is important to stick to the guidelines when it comes to your daily calcium intake. Here’s a list of foods that are some good sources of calcium:

If it is difficult to rely on your diet for getting the right levels of calcium, you can rely on calcium supplements to help. There are different products available, and it’s best to try and see which works best for you. But calcium is at its most effective when taken regularly in small amounts. Calcium supplements are normally taken three times a day around mealtimes, and work in around 500mg doses.