This week, the Institute of Medicine released their much-anticipated report about calcium and vitamin D, and how much we need. Like a lot of nutrition professionals, I had anticipated much higher recommendations for vitamin D, but that’s another story.
You’re pregnant or trying to be, or you’re nursing a baby, so here’s what you need to know. Pregnant and lactating women and others in their childbearing years need 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily, the equivalent of about three servings of dairy foods, such as 8 ounces of any type of milk, 8 ounces of yogurt, or 1 1/2 ounces of hard cheese, like cheddar. Fortified orange juice supplies as much calcium as milk, and other foods, like fortified cereals and dark green leafy vegetables provide calcium, too.
Vitamin D is a different story because it’s harder to get from food. It’s not called the sunshine vitamin for nothing;your body makes vitamin D in response to strong summer sunlight. According to Michael Holick, MD, a vitamin D expert at Boston University, if you live north of Atlanta, Georgia, you don’t make any vitamin D for six months a year. To make matters worse, very few foods are natural sources of vitamin D. Milk is fortified with vitamin D and so are many soy beverages, which, by the way, also contain added calcium. Fortified orange juice has as much vitamin D as milk.
For more on the calcium and vitamin D recommendations, and a list of vitamin D rich foods, check out this USA Today article.
Have you seen my other blog at USATODAY.com? It features tips for feeding your family healthy foods, and recipes that I prepare with my children as part of Cooking With My Kids.