A Vegan Calcium Plan

photo from Freepik

by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for calcium for adults age 19-50 years and men 51-70 years is 1,000 milligrams per day. The RDA for women over 51 years and for men over 70 is 1,200 milligrams per day. Did you ever wonder if you’re getting enough calcium?

You could look up the amount of calcium in all the foods you eat and add it up every day. There is an easier way – the list of vegan foods below all have about 100 milligrams of calcium in a serving.

By choosing 8 servings a day if you’re a 19-70 year old man or a 19-50 year old woman), you’ll be getting about 800 milligrams of calcium. It’s likely that you’ll get the remaining 200 milligrams from foods not on the list that have lower amounts of calcium.

If you’re a man over age 70 or a woman over 51 years, you’ll choose 10 servings of foods from the list. This equals about 1000 milligrams of calcium. Again, it’s likely that you’ll get the remaining 200 milligrams from foods not on the list that have lower amounts of calcium.

Eight or ten servings may sound like a lot of food but there are many instances where you’ll eat several servings at a time. For example, if you eat a cup of cooked collards, that’s 3 calcium servings. Same with a cup of calcium-fortified plant milk.

If you consistently struggle with getting the recommended amount of calcium from foods, consider a low-dose calcium supplement in addition to calcium-rich foods.

Choose 8 (for 19-70 year old men or a 19-50 year old women) or 10 servings (for men over 70 and women over 51 years) a day of any combination of these foods:

½ cup of cooked bok choy or napa cabbage
1½ cups of cooked broccoli
1½ cups of cooked Brussels sprouts
1 cup of cooked Chinese broccoli
1/3 cup of cooked collards
1/3 cup of cooked kale
1½ cups of raw kale
Rounded ½ cup of cooked mustard greens
¾ cup of cooked okra
8 dried figs
6 fresh figs
1½ medium oranges
¾ cup of cooked or canned great northern beans
¾ cup of cooked or canned navy beans
1 cup of cooked or canned black beans
1 cup of cooked edamame
1 cup of hummus made with tahini
1½ Tablespoons of tahini
2 rounded Tablespoons of almond butter
¼ cup of almonds
½ cup of tempeh
1-3 ounces of tofu processed with calcium sulfate (see note)
5 or more ounces of tofu processed with nigari (see note)
1/3 cup of calcium-fortified plant milk
½ cup of calcium-fortified plant yogurt
1 rounded Tablespoon of calcium-fortified plant cheese shreds
1 slice of calcium-fortified plant-cheese slices
4 corn tortillas
1 English muffin
1 Tablespoon of chia seeds
1½ teaspoons blackstrap molasses

Note: To calculate how much calcium is in the tofu you buy, look at the label. Calcium content will be listed as percent of the Daily Value. Since the current Daily Value for calcium is 1,000 milligrams, multiply the percent Daily Value by 10 to get the amount of calcium (in milligrams) in one serving. For example, tofu with 10% Daily Value for calcium would have 100 milligrams of calcium in one serving.

As an example, here’s one way to get 10 servings of calcium-rich foods:

Breakfast (4 servings of calcium-rich foods):

Oatmeal with 1 Tablespoon of chia seeds and 1½ Tablespoons of almond butter

2/3 cup of calcium-fortified plant milk

Lunch (3 servings of calcium-rich foods):

2 corn tortillas with ½ cup of black beans

1/3 cup of steamed kale

1½ oranges

Dinner (3 servings of calcium-rich foods):

3 ounces of tofu processed with calcium sulfate (package indicates 10% of the DV for calcium per 3 ounce serving)

1 cup of cooked bok choy

To read more about calcium for vegans see: