Calcium is a critical mineral to have in your daily diet. While many children get enough calcium from milk, teens and adults tend to miss out on this critical mineral.

The average person needs 1200mg a day of calcium. To properly absorb, you need to take Vitamin D with calcium. So you also need to get around 400iu of Vitamin D so that everything absorbs properly.

Why do you need calcium? Calcium helps keep your teeth and bone strong, so that you do not suffer from cavities or broken bones. It also helps with blood clotthing and even with how your muscles work.

Too much calcium can be as bad as too little calcium, though. If you take massive amounts of supplements, it can build up in your system and cause problems.

Many adults become lactose intolerant as they age, and cannot get calcium in the form of milk any more. There are many alternatives to milk and cheese. These include:

* kale
* collard greens
* almonds
* tofu

However, as you might imagine, few people eat these things daily. The safest thing is to take a daily supplement to ensure you get the proper amount of calcium each day. It works best not to get your calcium all in one giant dose, but rather to get smaller doses throughout the day.

For example, I personally hate the giant horse-pill calcium pills. I find them hard to swallow. However there are several chewable calcium squares on the market that give you 3 squares a day in delicious flavors. This makes it easy to portion your calcium throughout the day in an easy to take method.

While some generic brands get calcium from oyster shells, how many people do you know who normally eat oyster shells? Calcium that comes from shells and coral isn't a form of calcium that the body is good at absorbing. Calcium carbonate is often made from either oyster shells or limestone. Neither are things people normally eat :) In fact, studies have shown that these are 'waste products' from construction sites, that marketers have found a new use for.

You want to look for a formulation with calcium citrate instead. Calcium citrate / malate is one the best performing formulations. The citrate versions are what your body knows how to absorb.

There's a very interesting link between calcium and phosphorus. When you ingest phosphorus, your body needs to "match it up" with calcium to use it. So if you ingest phosphorus and calcium at the same time, they pair up and everything is fine. If you ingest phosphorus and do NOT eat calcium, your body will find calcium from somewhere to match up with it. This means your bones ... your teeth ... etc. You can see why it's important to have a balanced diet!

Meat, Protein and Absorbing Calcium