Why Kids Need Calcium

This health video explains the need for kids to have more calcium.

Tom Audette: Max, today there is a lot of interest it seems—I hear about this often of young women, mothers—who are, for whatever reasons, giving their children soymilk and things of this sort that aren’t naturally a source of calcium. When the children are very young—even babies and young children. Can you speak a little bit about the importance of calcium for that age group, in particular if you’re not consuming milk which is the obvious source of calcium? Mr. Max Motyka: Sure. The number one source of dietary calcium is going to be your dairy products—your milk, ice creams, anything like that, cream. Those things are very, very high in calcium and they have a good amount of magnesium, which is important, too. The thing is, if you’re going to be using soymilk—and soy is becoming much, much more commonly used today. At one time, the only time people had soymilk is when they had allergies to dairy. And so it wasn’t a very big niche. Now, because of the health benefits attributed to soy, well, much more soymilk is being utilized. Now you have the problem of there’s no real calcium in soymilk. You see some soymilk are trying to enhance by putting calcium in, because of the fact they realized that it is deficient. Of course, if you’re a family who’s avoiding dairy in this fashion, the chance of your child getting enough calcium is slim and none, basically. And I think in that situation, it’s a must to supplement calcium. Tom Audette: Thank you, Max. Mr. Max Motyka: Sure.