Helping Children Meet New Calcium And Vitamin D Recommendations

When I attended the session on New Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) Guidelines for Calcium and Vitamin D in Children at the American Dietetic Association (ADA) annual meeting in early November, the new DRIs had not yet been released.

Now that they have been, we know that calcium recommendations have been increased for children 1-3 years (from 500 mg to 700 mg/day) and for children 4-8 years (from 800 mg to 1,000 mg/day). Calcium recommendations remain at 1,300 mg/day for children/teens 9-18 years. Vitamin D recommendations have been increased from 200 IU/day to 600 IU/day for all children from age 1 to 18. According to the Institute of Medicine report, the requirements for calcium and vitamin D are so intertwined that setting the DRI for calcium was predicated on the assumption that the DRI for vitamin D were met and vice versa. (Also see Greg Miller’s post on the report here.)

Milk is the number one food source of both calcium and vitamin D in the American diet and enjoying dairy foods can play a key role in meeting the new DRIs. A cup of milk not only provides 300 milligrams of bone-building calcium and 100 IU vitamin D, it also supplies seven other essential nutrients including potassium, phosphorus, protein, vitamins A and B12, riboflavin and niacin (niacin equivalents). Three 8-ounce glasses of low-fat or fat-free milk or equivalent vitamin D-fortified milk products daily can provide the majority of calcium and half of the recommended amount of vitamin D for most Americans. In addition to milk, some yogurt and cheeses are also fortified with vitamin D.

To read the rest of this story please go to: National Dairy Council