Is it a good idea to eat crushed eggshells to prevent a calcium deficiency?

The shell of a chicken egg consists of 40 percent calcium. You can use the (ground) shell of an egg to get calcium. If you use enough dairy, it is not necessary. Look here how much and what you can eat to get enough nutrients and minerals such as calcium on a daily basis.

If you don’t use dairy, you can get enough calcium from eating the eggshell, but you will have to get the vitamins B2 and B12 that are in dairy from other products. In addition, you may miss out on health benefits if you don’t eat dairy. Taking dairy is associated with a lower risk of colon cancer and eating yogurt with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

There is a small chance that an egg is contaminated with salmonella. You get gastrointestinal complaints from a salmonella infection. This can be prevented by heating eggs and eggshells before eating them.

How much calcium do you need?

For adults between 19 and 50 years the advice is to get 1 gram of calcium per day, for people between 51 and 70 years this is 1.1 grams and for people 70+ the advice is 1.2 grams per day to take. Please note that urinary tract stones may form with more than 2.5 grams of calcium per day. Calcification of the kidneys and blood vessel walls can also occur.

How much an eggshell weighs depends on the size of the egg. A shell of an average egg weighs around 5 grams, so it quickly contains a few grams of calcium. With a small spoon you quickly have your daily recommended amount of calcium. And it is better not to take more than the recommended amount.

Read here more about calcium and what the health benefits are.

Do you also have a question? Then ask one of our experts. Always go to your doctor with urgent questions, the experts are not the right person for that. They also do not diagnose. You can find the other conditions here.