Calcium in Ice Cream?

How much calcium can be absorbed from ice cream?

Ice Cream manufacturers say that it’s no different than from low-fat milk. Well they would of course. There’s a lot of money in ice cream and there’s a lot of money to be made from women seeking advice about calcium.

There will be a big push on advertising for ice cream and ice lollies this year. The big manufacturers will be hustling for our custom.

Fair enough. We’re a captive market and we know we need calcium. But the idea of getting my daily calcium intake from ice cream hadn’t occurred to me before.

When I looked at the research from just one of the major ice cream manufacturers, I saw that it had been conducted on 16 healthy volunteers aged between 25 and 45. Not really an earth shattering number of subjects.

We need our Calcium
As we become older, we lose muscle mass and bone density and with menopause, the change in our hormone levels makes us prone to osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and other bone-related ailments.

Get Calcium!
Include calcium in any form as a regular part of your diet. Low fat dairy foods are your best sources but eat fresh, green leafy vegetables like broccoli, spinach and kale for your daily dose of calcium.

Calcium Supplements
We used to be hesitant about adding calcium to our daily food in case it built up in our arteries. But calcium is used very quickly in our bodies, it doesn’t get much of a chance to build up in women. And menopause is the time we need it!

Remember calcium supplements need to be taken with food. Best to speak to your medical professional if you believe you need calcium supplements.

Low Fat Ice Cream
Go on and eat ice cream from time to time, it tastes good and as long as you don’t overload on sugar and saturated fat, it doesn’t harm you.

If you can manage to read the tiny print on packaging, you’ll see that low-fat ice cream has twice the calories and half the calcium of nonfat plain yogurt.

So what are you looking for? Low fat or calcium? How much ice cream would you need to scoff down in a day?

It’s up to you.

About 1.5 percent of your body weight is made up of calcium, 99 percent of which is in your bones and teeth. Calcium not only helps the strength and density of your bones, it also affects the metabolism of estrogen in your body, which plays a large role in your bone strength.

Your body always makes sure that you have enough calcium circulating in your blood to do its part in these physiological activities. If you don’t get enough through your diet, it means that your blood levels of calcium will be low, so your body will take the calcium from your bones to keep your blood calcium at the right level.

You don’t have to live on dairy products, you can find calcium in spinach and other green leafy vegetables.

Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard is a tall leafy green vegetable with a thick, crunchy stalk that comes in white, red or yellow with wide fan-like green leaves.

Chard belongs to the same family as beets and spinach and shares a similar taste profile: it has the bitterness of beet greens and the slightly salty flavor of spinach leaves. Both the leaves and stalk of chard are edible, although the stems vary in texture with the white ones being the most tender. If the thought of chard leaves you cold, get some freshly picked. If you can’t find a farmer’s market, grow it yourself.

Try some chard recipes, such as chard enchilladas, tagine of chard, or chard with tomatoes, with fettucini or even candied ginger from Mariquita Farm

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