Calcium Bioavailability

Hi,

So I have been reading about calcium and my diet is quite deficient in it. I have no access to fresh milk here in West Africa, just UHT which I hate. I was looking for other sources of calcium and also into supplements. I know the RDA for an adult male is 1,000mg. I was shocked to read how low the bioavailability of is for calcium in the vast majority of foods. Even in milk - approximately 30%. Vegetables are even lower except for kale and bok choi which are 50 and 54% respectively. Does this mean you have to consume 2-3,000mg of calcium in order for you to absorb 1,000mg OR is the bioavailability factored into 1,000mg RDA?

If it is, as I suspect, the former then I don’t think I was even consuming that in my own country and that was with milk and cheese availability as well consuming a lot of other sources such as spinach and sardines etc.

As I said, I have also looked into supplements but a user on this forum, @mertdawg, whose wife is a cardiologist says that supplements are unhealthy and cause plaquing of the arteries so I have had a change of heart (forgive the pun).

Any thoughts on this topic would be welcome