Calcium Requirements of Infants, Children, and Adolescents

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Dietary Calcium Intake (mg/d) Recommendations in the United States² ^,3*

* Recommended intakes were provided in different forms by each source cited. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released Recommended Dietary Allowances until 1997. In 1997, it chose to use the term adequate intake for the recommendations for calcium intake but indicated that these values were to be used as Recommended Dietary Allowances. The NIH Consensus Conference did not specify a specific term but indicated that these values were the “optimal” intake levels. Dietary recommendations by the NAS are set to meet the needs of 95% of the identified population of healthy subjects. The NAS guideline should be the primary guideline utilized.
↵† For infant values, the 1994 NIH Consensus Conference indicated values for formula-fed infants, whereas the 1997 NAS report used the infant fed human milk as the standard.

Table 2.

Approximate Calcium Contents of 1 Serving of Some Common Foods*

Food	Serving Size		Calcium Content
Milk^†	1 cup	240 mL	300 mg
White beans	½ cup	110 g	113 mg
Broccoli cooked	½ cup	71 g	35 mg
Broccoli raw	1 cup	71 g	35 mg
Cheddar cheese	1.5 oz	42 g	300 mg
Low-fat yogurt	8 oz	240 g	300–415 mg
Spinach cooked^‡	½ cup	90 g	120 mg
Spinach raw^‡	1½ cup	90 g	120 mg
Calcium-fortified orange juice	1 cup	240 mL	300 mg
Orange	1 medium	1 medium	50 mg
Sardines or salmon with bones	20 sardines	240 g	50 mg
Sweet potatoes	½ cup mashed	160	44