3 serves

Eating 3 serves of dairy every day as part of a healthy, balanced diet will provide most people with their average daily requirements for calcium.

Calcium is an important mineral that is stored in bones and teeth where it provides structure and strength. Calcium is also involved in helping muscles and nerves to work properly, clotting blood and regulating enzyme activity. Calcium is probably best known for the essential role it plays in building and maintaining strong healthy bones.

Dairy foods such as milk, cheese and yogurt are the richest source of calcium in the Australian diet providing around 60% of the calcium consumed. The Dietary Guidelines for Australians specifically recommend that milk, yogurt or cheese be included in our daily diet because of their readily available dietary calcium

There are a wide variety of options in the dairy case to suit everyone including regular, reduced-fat, low-fat and skim varieties as well as calcium-enriched products.

One serve of dairy is equal to:

1 glass (250ml) of milk
1 tub (200g) of yogurt
2 slices (40g) of cheese

How many dairy serves do you need?

Approximate number of serves of dairy food needed each day to help ensure you meet your Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) for calcium, plus a significant amount of many other essential nutrients.

	Age	RDI for calcium (mg)	No. of serves of dairy
Children	1-3 years	500
	4-8 years	700
Boys	9-11years	1000
	12-13 years	1300 *	*
	14-18 years	1300 *	*
Girls	9-11 years	1000
	12-13 years	1300 *	*
	14-18 years	1300+ *	*
Men	19-70 years	1000
	Over 70	1300 *	*
Women	19-50 years	1000
	Over 50	1300 *	*
Pregnant	(over 18)	1000
Breastfeeding	(over 18)	1200

Alternative sources of calcium

Few other foods provide the body with as much calcium per serve as dairy foods. Milk contains a lot of calcium per serve and this calcium is well absorbed by the body.

Calcium can be found in canned fish (where the bones are eaten), nuts and green leafy vegetables, but a person would often need to eat a lot of these foods to absorb the same amount of calcium as that provided by a glass of milk (for example, 32 Brussels sprouts, 6 ½ cups of shredded green cabbage, one cup of dry roasted almonds)!

The following table shows the approximate number of portions of a range of different foods that a person would need to consume in order for their body to absorb the same amount of calcium as it would get from one serve of dairy:

Food	Serving size (g)	No Servings Required to Absorb Same Amount of Calcium as from 250ml Milk
Milk (regular or low fat)	200	1.0
Yogurt (regular or low fat)	200	1.0
Cheddar cheese (regular or low fat)	40	1.0
Almonds (dry roasted)	28	5.9
Beans (red)	172	14.5
Beans (white)	110	5.2
Bok choy	85	2.4
Broccoli	71	5.5
Brussel sprouts	78	8.3
Cabbage (Chinese)	85	2.4
Cabbage (green)	75	6.2
Canned fish (sardines)	105	1.1
Cauliflower	62	8.6
Sesame seeds	28	13.0
Soy drink (unfortified)	250	31.0
Soy drink (fortified)	250	1.4
Spinach	90	16.2
Sweet potatoes	164	10.2
Tofu (calcium set)	126	1.3

Tips to getting your 3 serves

Including 3 serves of dairy foods every day is easy. Try some of these great tasting tips:

For a tasty, low-fat snack, simply blend low-fat milk and yogurt with fruits such as bananas or strawberries.
For a calcium boost, top fresh fruit or cereal and milk, with fruit flavoured yogurt.
Milk is a healthy and tasty alternative to cordial or soft drink for growing kids.
For weekend and after-school snacks, freeze fruit flavoured yogurt into ‘icypole’ moulds or ice cube trays.
Freeze a frozen flavoured milk carton in children’s lunch boxes.
Make your vegetables more interesting and top with grated cheese.
Cheese is always great on sandwiches.
For a delicious snack, top savoury muffins with grilled tomato and shredded mozzarella and some Italian herbs.

3 serves

One serve of dairy is equal to:

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