Calcum: Good For Your Daughter's Bones
The National Bone Health Campaign (NBHC)

By the time your daughter is in her twenties, she will have developed most of her skeletal bone mass. This means that right now she has a window of opportunity to build her bones by eating foods with calcium and doing weight-bearing physical activity. This can help to reduce her risk of developing osteoporosis later in life.

Your daughter needs to consume 1,300 milligrams, or 130% Daily Value (% DV) of calcium each day to ensure healthy bone development. Why 130%? The % DV shown on the food label is calculated for a person who needs 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day and girls need more calcium than that.

HOW YOU CAN HELP--

Set a Good Example

Take care of the person she looks up to most — you. Serve yourself bone-healthy snacks and meals. After all, to stay strong, your bones continue to need calcium throughout your life.

Inform Her

Introduce your daughter to Powerful Bones. Powerful Girls.™ for girl-friendly information and educational games. Discuss the importance of a balanced diet, including foods with calcium, and why it's important for her to build strong bones now. Make grocery lists or shop with her, so she can learn about food choices and meal planning.

Provide Opportunities

Incorporate dairy and non-dairy foods with calcium into your family's meals and snacks — even when you're on the go. Have her try new, fun foods with calcium. Add foods with calcium into dishes that she already eats. Take a look at food labels to see how much calcium different foods have — more and more foods that children like are made with added calcium.

Support Her

Help her practice her math skills by adding up the amount of calcium she eats in a day — girls aged 9–18 need 1,300 milligrams (or 130% Daily Value) of calcium each day. The handy calcium calculator will make this a snap.

Want to read more about the research behind these tips? Click here.

For more information, visit http://www.cdc.gov/powerfulbones/parents/index.html

Source: CDC.gov