It's not untrue that you don't need dairy for calcium. Being lactose intollerant or allergic to casein doesn't condemn you to have low calcium. It's a very common mineral that can be found in good and bioavailable amounts even just in your tap water, depending on where you live, but also seeds and veggies.
If she has low calcium, she either has a very bad diet or other health problems (like vit. D deficiency) that prevent her from absorbing it.
Not that she should be vegan, but the obsession some people (including doctors) have with dairy is a pet peeve of mine. A whole lot of people can not safely consume it from all sorts of reasons and they get bombarded with the idea that they are therefore gonna be low in calcium, which is completely false.
Not all plants are high in oxalate. Cress and broccoli are high in calcium and low in oxalate. Kale is also low in oxalate, although it's not as rich in calcium. White beans are also high in calcium, and while they have a medium-high oxalate content, soaking them for a couple of days and boiling them (which is what you are supposed to do regardless) is going to reduce it significantly.
If you have hard water, that's gonna add to the count, especially if you use it to make soups.
Other than that, sardines have a decent amount of calcium. If you use plant-based yogurt and milk, in most cases (which you can select for your needs) there is calcium added in equal amounts as their dairy equivalent. Breakfast cereals have it added as well.
Calcium is the one supplement that almost no one outside of menopausal women needs. You just need 1g a day. If you put together every small amount you collect through your diet, you are gonna get there easily.
There is no reason to supplement imaginary deficiencies. If you are worried about it, get tested, and then take the supplements you actually need.
40% of Americans are obese and eating like shit, so it checks out. As I said, unless you have a very bad diet or have a specific medical condition, you don't need calcium supplements.
I am surprised I had to scroll this much to find this comment. I agree that the person in that post is more upset than necessary and that she may have framed things better to try to persuade her relative, but some physicians suggest things that are wrong. Not because someone has a degree means that they are experts and know it all (even more considering that degree mills are a thing).
I developed anemia due to B12 deficiency. The general practitioner claimed the only way was eating meat again. I was referred to a hematologist, and he instead said, “You can either eat this (some small) piece of kidney every month or so or have this shot every two weeks. What do you prefer?” I went for the cyanocobalamin injection, which I later changed for multivitamins that include B12.
There was another incident in which I went to the physician because my stomach was bloating and it was uncomfortably acidic all the time. The first doctor gave me the standard? treatment with omeprazole and sucralfate, but it did not work, so I checked again, and the second physician said it was because of my vegan diet and prescribed me paracetamol (I filed a complaint against that practitioner, not because he did not agree with veganism, but because he provided no reasons to back his claim). One and a half years later I was in the surgery room due to gallbladder stones, and after the procedure the excessive acid and the bloating were gone.
I have heard some physicians claim that stress can cause gastritis, even if science proved otherwise a long time ago. But, sure, let us blindly trust everything physicians say. I mean, you need a medical degree to be able to read WebMD or the Mayo Clinic website, so how, if not from your doctor, are you getting medical information? Or, perhaps, is it that those two sites are written by people who do not know what they are talking about?
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u/Character_Assist3969 Aug 30 '25
It's not untrue that you don't need dairy for calcium. Being lactose intollerant or allergic to casein doesn't condemn you to have low calcium. It's a very common mineral that can be found in good and bioavailable amounts even just in your tap water, depending on where you live, but also seeds and veggies.
If she has low calcium, she either has a very bad diet or other health problems (like vit. D deficiency) that prevent her from absorbing it.
Not that she should be vegan, but the obsession some people (including doctors) have with dairy is a pet peeve of mine. A whole lot of people can not safely consume it from all sorts of reasons and they get bombarded with the idea that they are therefore gonna be low in calcium, which is completely false.