What is calcium?

Dairy & Protein

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by Kate Simmons >> more about the author

Milk, cheese, yogurt. These are foods that are rich in calcium. You may have heard that calcium is good for your bones! But what exactly is calcium, anyway?! Calcium is a mineral found in your body, in certain foods, and even in some multi-vitamins and medicines. Your teeth and bones are two areas of the body that contain a lot of calcium!

Calcium builds strong and healthy bones and teeth. Calcium also helps your body to perform important jobs, such as clotting your blood so bleeding stops when you’re injured, keeping the heart beating at a healthy rhythm, and contracting your muscles.

In addition to dairy products like milk, calcium can be found in foods such as broccoli, kale, spinach, soy milk, and baked beans.

Bodies that don’t have enough calcium may pull it from bones—this makes bones weaker! Healthy bones are strong all the way through. If bones weaken because they are broken down faster than they are rebuilt, a condition called osteoporosis may result, especially in grown-ups who are getting older.

Having less-than-strong bones means that each time a person falls or gets injured, these bones are at risk of getting fractured or broken. We can see why calcium is so important to our bodies! Kids who have a healthy diet and get plenty of exercise are already taking important steps to preventing osteoporosis later in life!