Major minerals
Calcium
Bone · muscle
Bone mineralization, muscle contraction, neuronal signaling.
Upper-limit caution
The Tolerable Upper Intake Level for Calcium is 2500 mg per day. Routine intakes above this level — counting food + supplements — raise the risk of adverse effects. Multivitamins, fortified foods, and standalone supplements stack faster than people expect.
Forms to avoid
Not all Calcium forms absorb equally well. The following forms are commonly used because they're cheap, but their bioavailability is materially lower than alternatives — watch for them on supplement labels:
- carbonate
Formulate's product scoring penalizes these forms when they appear as the primary Calcium source — see the methodology page for the rubric.
How Calcium appears on labels
Supplement labels list Calcium under several names depending on the chemical form used. Any of these on an ingredients panel counts toward your Calcium intake:
- calcium
- calcium carbonate
- calcium citrate
- calcium malate
- calcium hydroxyapatite
Deep dive
For mechanism of action, dosing protocols, evidence grade, and interaction warnings on Calcium, see the full encyclopedia entry:
Calcium encyclopedia entry →Related major minerals
Track your full intake
Formulate's free desktop app aggregates Calcium (and ~40 other nutrients) across every supplement in your stack — flagging underdoses, overlaps, and upper-limit overshoots in one view.
Get the appMedical disclaimer. This page is educational and does not replace advice from a qualified healthcare provider. Targets and upper limits are general adult reference values; individual needs vary by age, sex, pregnancy status, and clinical context.