Are you on your way to maximum strength?

Calcium forms crystals in the bones to provide strength and structure. Throughout childhood and the teenage years, your body is busy using calcium to build your bones, and by the time you reach your early twenties, your bones attain their maximum strength. It is important to ensure you eat enough calcium during the first twenty years of your life, to ensure that your bone strength is as high as it can be. If your bone strength isn’t high enough at this point, you are at greater risk of developing osteoporosis when you are much older, a condition where bones break more easily.

Your calcium requirements keep increasing until they stabilise throughout adulthood.

1-3 year olds= 500mg/day
4-8 year olds= 700mg/day
9-11 year olds-= 1,000mg/day
12-18 year olds- 1,300mg/day

The most common source of calcium is from dairy foods.

• 1 cup of reduced/regular fat milk= 300mg

• 200g reduced fat natural yoghurt= 488mg

• 1 slice reduced fat cheddar cheese= 200mg

Regular fat varieties often have less calcium than reduced fat alternatives!

However, dairy foods aren’t for everyone. Here are some alternatives:

• 1 cup calcium FORTIFIED soy milk (reduced fat)= 350mg

• 90g sardines, canned in water= 486mg

• 90g pink (higher than red) salmon, canned in water= 279mg

• 1 serving of calcium FORTIFIED breakfast cereal eg. Special K= 200mg

• 1 tablespoon of Milo= 160mg

• 1 cup of bok choy, silver beet, Lebanese cucumber= 50-100mg

During adulthood, your requirements remain at 1,000mg/day. As you age, bone mass declines, and requirements again increase to 1,300mg/day.

However bone strengthening also requires exercise, which is where ballet can be of great help!

Kellie Patton
BHealthSc & MDiet