According to a press release we received recently from Kraft Foods, 90 percent of American women do not get the calcium they need every day to keep their bones strong, particularly after menopause.

Calcium is such an incredibly important nutrient. It helps to build strong bones and teeth. It helps your muscles (like the heart, for instance) to contract and relax normally. And if you don't get enough calcium in your diet, you are running the risk of developing hypertension, osteoporosis and possibly some other chronic diseases later on in life.

Men and women are both at risk for calcium deficiency problems, though most of the emphasis has been on post-menopausal women.

The current recommended intake of calcium is as follows:

Ages 11 to 24: 1,200 mg per day

Over 25: 1,000 mg per day

Pregnant or nursing women: 1,200 to 1,500 mg per day

Women over 50: 1,500 mg per day

Men over 65: 1,500 mg per day

We know that since about half the adult bone mass is accumulated during adolescence, the earlier in life individuals start consuming an adequate amount of calcium, the less likely they are to have problems later on. After age 35, bone density begins to decrease and the struggle begins in earnest to keep the loss to a minimum.

Unfortunately, as important as it is, calcium seems to be one of the few vitamins and minerals that is sometimes hard to get from eating the proper foods, especially if you don't include dairy foods in your diet. Of course, this has brought the supplement manufacturers out in full force, offering a wide range of quick calcium fixes for those people who are having a tough time adjusting their diets to increasing overall calcium intake.

Nonetheless, the American Dietetic Association, the American Medical Association and the National Institutes of Health expert panel all recommend calcium-rich foods -- not pills -- as the preferred sources of calcium. This debate between food and pills actually rages on continually, but it turns out that it's not as hard as you might think to get all or most of the calcium you need every day.

The National Dairy Council is quick to point out that while plenty of foods contain calcium, it's harder to get your daily requirement if you don't include a fair number of servings from the milk group. Vegetable sources of calcium, like broccoli, red beans or spinach, also contain substances that bind up the calcium and make it less available to the body. Therefore, in order to get the same amount of absorbable calcium as in a cup of milk, you would need to eat 2 1/2 cups of cooked broccoli, 7 cups of red beans or 8 cups of spinach. And if these were your only sources of calcium, you'd need to almost quadruple those amounts to meet your daily requirements. What a scary thought!

Two of the arguments people give for not consuming more dairy products are the high fat content and lactose intolerance. Fortunately, the calcium content of milk goes up as the fat content goes down. For instance, one cup of fat-free milk has 302 mg of calcium, 1 percent lowfat milk has 300 mg, 2 percent reduced fat milk has 297 mg and whole milk has 291 mg.

Lactose intolerance is not an actual food allergy but rather a condition that occurs when the body does not have enough lactase (the enzyme that digests the main sugar in milk). When this happens, milk sugar can't be fully digested and discomfort may occur. Your doctor can test you for lactose intolerance and it can often be managed by choosing milk products carefully and monitoring your intake until you find an amount that your body can handle.

Notwithstanding that dairy products are the richest in calcium, here are some foods in various other groups that will also supply some calcium to a balanced diet. Note that in some cases they become good calcium sources because of added dairy products, like cheese or milk.

Meat Group:

Sardines with bones: 3 ounces: 371 mg.

Canned salmon with bones: 3 ounces: 167 mg.

Almonds, 1/3 cup: 120 mg.

Vegetable Group:

Frozen cooked kale, 1/2 cup: 90 mg.

Frozen cooked okra, 1/2 cup: 88 mg.

Frozen cooked broccoli, 1/2 cup: 47 mg.

Fruit Group:

Orange, 1 medium: 52 mg.

Grain Group:

One enriched English muffin: 96 mg.

Pancakes, made with milk, 2 (each 4 inches in diameter): 72 mg.

1 hamburger bun: 54 mg.

Combination Foods:

1 baked potato with cheese: 350 mg.

1 taco salad: 280 mg.

Cheese pizza slice (1/2 of 15-inch' diameter): 200 mg.

Kraft Foods obviously has a vested interest in getting you to eat more dairy products, such as its various cheeses, and to this end it has developed a nice little brochure that also contains a handy calcium counter which, although it is aimed at "women only", would be helpful for anybody. If you would like to get a free copy of the calcium counter, call toll-free at (877) 878-7394.