Calcium - Kale has 5X Calcium than skim milk, and is more bioavailable - Jan 2024

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A comparison of the bioaccessible calcium supplies of various plant-based products relative to bovine milk

Food Res Int 2024 Jan:175:113795. doi: 10.1016/j.foodres.2023.113795
Molly Muleya 1, Esther F Bailey 2, Elizabeth H Bailey 3

Calcium deficiency is widespread globally, especially in diets with minimal consumption of dairy. It is therefore important to identify plant-based sources of calcium that can make a meaningful contribution to calcium intakes for populations following diets with a minimum supply of dairy products. The best sources of calcium have a high calcium content and bioavailability. Therefore, we evaluated the gross and bioaccessible calcium supplies of 25 plant-based products from 5 food groups considered to be good and important sources of calcium. Bioaccessible calcium was examined using the INFOGEST static digestion model in which isotopically labelled 43Ca was used as a tracer of reagent calcium to improve accuracy of bioaccessibility measurements. The gross calcium content varied widely amongst all the food products, ranging between 7.48 and 959 mg/100 g fresh weight (fw), with approximately 50 % of the products being equivalent to or surpassing the calcium content of skimmed milk. Bioaccessibility of calcium was equally variable, ranging from about 0.1 - 50 %. The lowest bioaccessibility (<10 %) was found in spinach, plant-based beverages, tofu, dried figs and tahini and was attributed to: 1. the high content of oxalate and phytate in some of the products, and 2. the low solubility of tricalcium phosphate which was used for fortification in the plant-based beverages. The remaining products generally had a high bioaccessibility that was similar to, or higher than that of skimmed milk (∼30 %). When both bioaccessibility and recommended serving portions were considered, only 3 products were identified as good sources of calcium, requiring 0.2 - 1.4 servings to equal the bioaccessible supply from skimmed milk. The top three sources of plant-based calcium identified were kale, finger millet and fortified white bread in that order, with kale providing 5 times more bioaccessible calcium than 1 serving of skimmed milk. Moderate sources of calcium where 1.5 - 3 servings was equivalent to 1 serving of skimmed milk included wholemeal bread, some bean varieties (black chickpeas, chickpeas, kidney beans, peas), broccoli, cabbage and almond drink. The rest of the products were either of low calcium content, poor bioaccessibility, and/or not consumed in sufficient quantities to make a significant contribution to daily requirements. White bread was a good source of calcium as it was fortified with calcium carbonate and this suggests that mandatory widescale fortification of staple cereals with this form of calcium should be considered a viable approach to augment dietary calcium intakes in vulnerable populations. Low bioaccessibility of fortified calcium in plant-based beverages, often marketed as good sources of calcium, suggests the need for regulation and for further in vivo studies to validate bioavailability of calcium in these products.
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VitaminDWiki – Calcium bioavailability and how much to take contains

• All items with Calcium in VitaminDWiki 220 items
• Calcium from food or supplements associated with more deaths (US Cohort of 31,000 people) – April 2019
• More Calcium absorbed with more vitamin D – 6.7% more with 4000 IU – RCT March 2014
• Decrease Calcium and Increase Magnesium when increasing vitamin D
• Calcium supplements proven to NOT reduce fractures, but are proven to INCREASE heart problems – July 2015
• More than 1.4 grams of Calcium increased male death rate by 1.4 X – Sept 2018
• 10,000 IU of Vitamin D is too much if you also take Calcium supplements – RCT Sept 2018
• Calcium Essential to Limit Osteoporosis but Avoid Excess, Say Europeans - Nov 2017
• Hypercalcemia can result from excess Vitamin D (if not reduce Ca or increase water) Oct 2016
• Must balance co-factors when increasing vitamin D 500 Ca, 500 Mg - which has the following concept graph

• More than 800 mg of Calcium increases Cardiovascular events by 85 %– Nov 2011