Calcium is the mineral your bones and teeth are built from, and it also helps muscles and nerves work. Most of it is stored in your skeleton, which is why people worry about getting enough. The good news: you do not need a special diet or a pill. A few ordinary foods do most of the work, and this guide shows which ones.
Public health bodies do not quite agree, and that is fine. The UK's NHS says adults need 700 mg a day. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) sets a higher reference intake of 950 mg a day for adults aged 25 and over, and the Nordic recommendations (2023) use the same 950 mg. The difference comes from how each body treats the evidence and how much margin it adds. Treat the two numbers as a range: 700 mg is a floor many people do well on, and 950 mg is a comfortable target.
Add servings of the foods you actually eat. The bar shows both targets, so you can see where your day lands.
Add a food to start.
Dairy is the easy route: a glass of milk (200 ml), a pot of yoghurt (150 g) and a small piece of cheese (30 g) together come to roughly 690 mg. If you do not eat dairy, calcium-enriched plant drinks, calcium-set tofu, canned fish eaten with the bones, and green vegetables such as broccoli and kale can fill the gap. Check the label: only plant drinks with added calcium count, and plain ones can be close to zero.
The foods that move the needle are milk, yoghurt, cheese, enriched plant drinks and fish with soft bones. Greens help, but they are the supporting act.
Spinach is often called a calcium food, but it contains compounds that stop your body absorbing much of it, so the NHS notes it is a weaker source than its label suggests. Absorption also depends on vitamin D, which is a topic of its own.
More is not better. The NHS says up to 1,500 mg a day from food and supplements is unlikely to cause harm, while larger doses can cause stomach pain and diarrhoea. If you do not eat dairy at all, or you eat a very restricted diet, a quick look at your day like the one above is a good start.
This is general information, not medical advice. If you have a condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, have or had an eating disorder, take medication, or have been told you have low bone density, talk to a doctor or dietitian before changing how you eat or taking any supplement.