| " How can a woman navigate the calcium-bone-density thing? Many calcium supplements in pharmacies are calcium carbonate, which is hard to absorb. You can almost never find calcium citrate." "Also, is dairy good for us? What about other foods? What if you have a tough coffee habit?" "Then we're told that it's the amount of calcium you ingested as a teenager, when your bones were being formed, that counts. Of course, I lived on Tab and Red Hots when I was a teenager. Yikes!" " Your question has a lot of components, so I am going to break it up into parts to make the information easier to digest. Here goes:" "Calcium is good for bones, and it may also improve PMS symptoms and drop the risk of colon cancer (though this is less proven). Women before menopause should aim for 1,000 mg of calcium per day and, after menopause, 1,200 mg per day. That includes your diet and supplements. So if you are getting enough calcium in the food you eat, you don't need to take a supplement." "Dairy, like most things in life, has pros and cons. It can be hard to get that much calcium through diet alone, so milk products provide a highly concentrated source and are easy to find." "Yet many people have lactose intolerance (a problem digesting sugar in milk), which can cause gas and cramping. The likelihood of developing it may increase with age. Although you can get around this by using enzymes, such as Lactaid, to digest the milk, it isn't always 100 percent effective." "Even people who don't have lactose intolerance notice they feel better when they avoid dairy. That is why so many holistic providers recommend avoiding dairy products for certain health conditions such as asthma and allergies to see if it helps. Remember, that doesn't necessarily mean you are "allergic" to milk ? just that you feel better without it." "There are other foods high in calcium. Kale, collard greens, broccoli, seaweed and dandelion greens are all good sources. But you still have to eat a lot of these foods to get up to the levels needed, and not everyone likes to eat weeds from the backyard." "If you aren't sure you are going to get enough calcium in your diet, then a calcium supplement is a good insurance policy. I usually recommend calcium citrate because you can absorb it even if you don't eat it with a meal
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