Meeting calcium needs: tips for vegans

Meeting calcium needs: tips for vegans
Meeting calcium needs is super easy on a vegan diet—especially with the availability of so many fortified plant foods
by Virginia Messina, MPH, RD
April 7, 2009


Recommended intake of calcium for adults is 1,000 mg per day. Right now, the research doesn’t support the idea that vegans need less calcium than anyone else. A few studies have suggested that some vegans may fall short of calcium requirements, raising their risk for bone fractures. (Many omnivores don’t get enough calcium, either, of course.)

Here are some good sources of calcium for vegans (and for everyone else, too!) followed by a few tips for boosting calcium intake.



Foods that provide about 300 mg of calcium:



1 cup fortified orange juice or V8 juice
1 cup fortified soymilk
1 Luna Bar


Foods that provide about 200 mg of calcium:


1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 cup fortified apple juice
½ cup cooked collard greens
½ cup calcium-set tofu
1 ounce of fortified breakfast cereal


Foods that provide about 100 mg of calcium



½ cup cooked kale, turnip greens, or broccoli
½ cup cooked soybeans
¼ cup soynuts
1 package of instant oatmeal
5 dried figs


Foods that provide about 50 to 75 mg of calcium


2 tbsp almond butter or tahini
½ cup prepared textured vegetable protein (TVP)
½ cup cooked bok choy
½ cup tempeh

1/2 cup cooked navy, black or great northern beans
½ cup vegetarian baked beans
1 orange
2 tbsp almonds





Try these easy ways to boost calcium intake

• Make your own trail mix and include soynuts and almonds.

To read the full article:
http://www.examiner.com/x-5670-Seattle-Vegan-Examiner~y2009m4d7-Meeting-calcium-needs-tips-for-vegans