The Role of Calcium in Limiting Body Fat

Calcium does more than strengthen your bones it also helps you get rid of belly fat. Studies at Harvard Medical School have shown that those who ate three servings of dairy a day, the equivalent of 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day, were sixty percent less likely to be overweight. [1] A similar thesis study at the University of Tennessee also found that dieters that had calcium in their diet were more likely to lose weight than those who don’t. [2]  Two groups of subjects were put on the same 600 calories a day restricted diet but those who added yogurt to the diet doubled their weight loss.

Black Strap Molasses - a vegan source of calcium.

Of course, these studies are older and come before the advent of veganism that demands that we get our calcium from non-dairy sources, which of course is entirely possible given all of the calcium enriched nut milks, coconut milks and calcium-rich fruits and vegetables that are available to us today. The point is that people who tend to be nutritionally adequate in calcium tend to lose weight faster and also keep it off.  So even if you have quit eating and drinking dairy products, eating enough calcium should be part of your happy and healthy lifestyle.

Researchers speculate that calcium helps fight fat because it is a thermal (fat-burning) nutrient. You burn more calories eating calcium-rich foods then you would if you ate a food with the same amount of calories but with no calcium.

Sources of Calcium From Dairy

If you still eat dairy you stand the chance of losing the most calories and absorbing the most calcium.  Your goal is to eat about 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day so even if you are eating just one of these foods and combining them with vegan sources of calcium you are still ahead of the game.

Good example of calcium-rich dairy foods that provide approximately one quarter of your daily requirement for protein include –

• 1 once grated Parmesan cheese
• I cup large curd cottage cheese
• 8 ounces low-fat yogurt
• 8 ounces low fat milk
• 1 ounce Swiss chees
• 1 slice (1 ounce) cheddar cheese
• 1 once mozzarella cheese
• 1 scoop whey powder protein.

Vegan Sources of Calcium

In the world of veganism, the best sources of calcium are –

• Blackstrap molasses
• The dark green leafy vegetables including bok choy, broccoli, collards, kale, mustard greens, spinach and okra
• Soybean and soy nuts
• Calcium set tofu
• Beans and bean dips
• Grapefruit
• Melons
• Tahini
• Almond butter and almonds
• Cooked broccoli

However, the difference between these sources and the dairy sources is that vegan foods do not take as many carbohydrates to digest because they have fewer calories than dairy foods.  Most of these foods provide about one tenth of your daily requirement for calcium with the exception of blackstrap molasses, collard greens and calcium-set tofu which can provide as much as a third of your daily calcium requirement of 1200 calories a day.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

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[1] Danita R Shahar, Dan Schwarzfuchs, Drora Fraser, Hillel Vardi, Joachim Thiery,

 Georg Martin Fiedler, Matthias Blüher, Michael Stumvoll, Meir J StampferIris Shai, and for the DIRECT Group, Dairy calcium intake, serum vitamin D, and successful weight loss, “ The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”. November 2010, Volume 92. Bethesda, MD: American Society for Nutrition. Retrieved online May 27, 2014, http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/92/5/1017.full.

[2] Bloom, Mary Millsap’s Bloom” Effects of Dietary Calcium on Weight Loss in Obese Adults (2001.) University of Tennessee Honours Thesis Projects. http//trace.tennesee.edu/utk_chanhonoproj/447. Retrieved online May 26, 2014.