Daily limit of Calcium
actually i'm interested in this also... particularly if there are any effects from the huge dose of calcium you would be getting??
According to the National Health and Medical Research Council the Upper Limit of Calcium is 2500mg a day.
A gallon (3.78L) of milk has 4271mg (113mg per 100ml based on the milk in my fridge and nutritiondata.com).
Below is the rationale provided in 'Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Including Recommended Dietary Intakes'.
Available at:
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/publications/synopses/n35.pdf
It's provided for your own reading...I can't interpret it for anyone sorry.
If anyone is a nutritionist and can rewrite it then please do!
Rationale: Because of the inverse relationship between fractional calcium absorption and calcium
intake, an additional intake of 1,000 mg added to a typical western diet would only increase calcium
in urine by about 60 mg. Urinary calcium rises slowly with intake and risk of developing kidney
stones (nephrolithiasis) from calcium supplements is therefore negligible. Toxic effects of calcium
have only been seen when calcium is given in high doses as the carbonate as an antacid. The result is
hypercalcaemia with renal calcification and renal failure and is known as the milk alkali syndrome or
MAS (Burnett et al 1949).
Using MAS as the critically defined endpoint, a LOAEL of about 5 g can be identified for adults from
16 studies involving 26 subjects (FNB:IOM 1997).
A UF of 2 takes into account the potential for increased risk of high calcium intake, given the relatively
common occurrence of kidney stones in Australia and New Zealand, the fact that hypercalciuria in
people with renal stones has been shown to occur at intakes as low as 1,700 mg /day in men and
870 mg in women (Burtis et al 1974) and concern that calcium will interfere with absorption of other
minerals such as zinc and iron in vulnerable populations. The UL is therefore set conservatively at
2,500 mg/day.
On a side note, you can request
FOR FREE printed version of the publications on the NHMRC site.
There are heaps of publications on there about all sorts of topics, not just nutrition.