How to Get Calcium on a Plant-Based Vegan Diet | Dr. Michael Greger of Nutritionfacts.org

How to get adequate calcium on a vegan diet is a common concern among new vegans and people considering going plant-based.

Dairy, especially cow’s milk, is marketed as essential for bone health, mainly due to its calcium content. But what are plant-based sources of calcium? Can you get enough calcium if you don’t consume dairy?

In order to address common concerns about getting adequate calcium on a plant-based vegan diet, I decided to ask an expert who really knows his nutrients: Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org.

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Introducing Dr. Michael Greger & the Vegan Nutrition Concerns Series

Dr. Greger is a licensed general practitioner specializing in clinical nutrition, an author, and an internationally-recognized speaker on nutrition, food safety, and matters of public health.

This interview is the third in the Vegan Nutrition Concerns Series with Dr. Greger. This series addresses common nutrient-specific concerns related to a plant-based diet, and touches upon the health impacts of animal products.

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Dr. Greger on How to Get Calcium on a Vegan Diet

The following transcript of my interview with Dr. Greger (from the video above) is edited for clarity, order, and readability.

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Why Dairy Is an Unhealthy Source of Calcium

Dr. Greger: Dairy is the number one source of calcium in the United States. It’s also the number one source of saturated fat intake; it’s actually not beef, but cheese, primarily.

Food is a packaged deal. As much as Burger King says that “you can have it your way,” you can’t [ask] “Could I get the protein and the iron but hold the saturated fat, cholesterol, hormones, [and] antibiotics?” It just doesn’t work that way.

You get your calcium from dairy, [but] the “baggage” that comes along with that calcium [is] the saturated butter fat, hormones, etc.

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Plant-Based Calcium Sources Come With Additional Nutrients

Dr. Greger: [Instead of dairy,] you [can] get your calcium from “the source,” like dark green leafy vegetables.

Then you get the fiber, folate, potassium—the proper nutrients—the iron and all these wonderful things that you’re not getting from dairy. That’s why plant-based sources of calcium are so much healthier.

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The Myth of Milk & Bone Health – Research Ties Dairy to Higher Fracture Risk

Dr. Greger: The most concerning thing in terms of milk consumption was a series of studies that we will be profiling soon on NutritionFacts.org. They found that those who drank more milk actually had a higher [rate of] hip fracture, so we’ve known that milk isn’t protective.

Whether we’re talking about older women, younger women, peak bone mass: milk just has not been shown to protect bone health. But here, for the first time, [research is] saying [dairy] actually increases fracture risk as well as shortening lifespan and increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

I think it’s the galactose in milk sugar that’s hurting the bones and increasing risk of death and brain problems.

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Healthy Plant-Based Sources of Calcium

Dr. Greger: Calcium is important, but we should get it from healthy foods. And healthy [sources are]: dark green leafy vegetables, sesame seeds, and nuts. Tahini is a good source. [In] dried fruits, you get a little bit throughout the day.

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Recommended Daily Calcium Intake

Dr. Greger: I encourage people to get 600mg of calcium per day. I wouldn’t dip below 600, but the average vegan gets over 600[mg daily].

If you’re restricting calories for some reason, or you’re just not eating a lot, you’ll want to make sure you have a lot of calcium-enriched foods in your diet.

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Does Animal Protein Leach Calcium from Our Bones?

There is an oft-repeated concept that consuming animal protein creates an acidic environment in the body, resulting in calcium being leached out of our bones in order to “neutralize” the acid. I asked Dr. Greger if this had any validity.

Dr. Greger: The study that really changed it all was the study using radioactive calcium isotopes.

We’ve known for decades that if you eat a steak, all of a sudden your pee [contains] all this calcium. Calcium is stored in our bones. [But] if you radiolabel calcium in a meal, and you eat that steak…it turns out the calcium is radioactive.

It’s actually the calcium in your diet, and not [the calcium in] your bones that you were peeing out.

What protein does is increase calcium absorption. By eating a steak, you would get more calcium from whatever [other food] you were eating with that steak. And your body pees out the excess [calcium].

That doesn’t mean that dairy products aren’t bad for the bones, but the sense that meat was the reason for the high rates of osteoporosis has not panned out.

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Everyone Needs Calcium, Regardless of Diet

Dr. Greger: There’s a sense that if I’m not eating animal protein, I don’t need to get calcium. No, we need to get 600mg of calcium; it’s easy to do.

We should all be eating dark green leafy vegetables, which is one way to do it. You can sweeten things with black cherry molasses, and there’s a lot of calcium in calcium-solidified tofu. All sorts of things have a lot of calcium, but we should just make sure we get it.

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Can You Consume Too Much Calcium?

Dr. Greger: My [calcium] intake for today is 1,580.7mg, which is 158% of my [recommended dietary allowance] (RDA).

Again, it’s the source [of calcium that matters]. If you were eating Tums all day, I’d say “let’s cut back on the Tums.” But not if you ate this awesome kale salad and had been eating figs.

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In Closing…

I hope you enjoyed hearing from Dr. Greger on the topic of how to get calcium on a vegan diet. 

As Dr. Greger so aptly pointed out, even if dairy products contain some desirable nutrients, they come as a “package deal” with plenty of undesirable elements. 

However, by cutting out the “middle cow” and getting your calcium from plants, you get all of the healthy nutrients that protect your bones and none of the saturated fat, cholesterol, or antibiotics.

I’d love to hear from you:  Where do you get your calcium from? Did you, or do you, believe that dairy is a healthy or essential source?  Let me know in the comments!

— Emily Moran Barwick

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Please note that when it comes to your health and nutrition, there is no substitute for the guidance of a trained medical professional, especially if you have any medical conditions or complications.

Finding a plant-based provider can be challenging, depending on your location and health insurance (or lack thereof). In the accordion below are online directories for plant-based providers. I hope to expand the list to include ones that serve more countries. If you know of any additional directories, please let me know!

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