Calcium in mineral water

A total of approximately 1 kg of calcium is stored in the body, 99 percent of which is in bones and teeth. With an average of more than 50 mg per kg of body weight, calcium is quantitatively the most important mineral in the human body. Like all major minerals, your body cannot produce calcium on its own and therefore your diet should be providing your recommended daily requirement.

The daily requirement of an adult is 800 mg of calcium per day. Growing children and adolescents, however, have an increased daily requirement as do people over 50 years of age and pregnant and breast-feeding women. For these groups, the German Association for Nutrition, in keeping with international standards, recommends a daily intake of up to 1,200 mg.

Because your body cannot produce calcium, you must consume it daily via food and beverages. In addition to most mineral waters, dairy products, like milk, cheese, and yoghurt are the most common sources. It’s also available from some vegetables, like kale and broccoli and selected canned fish. Incidentally, your body can process the dissolved calcium in mineral water more readily; the bioavailability of calcium from mineral water is at least as good as that of calcium in milk.

Gerolsteiner Sparkling Mineral Water contains 348 mg of calcium per litre. This means that just one litre of Gerolsteiner satisfies more than a third of the recommended daily calcium intake.