Skip to main content

Calcium Dashboard – Details by Country

Portugal


Country Typology: Low disease risk, high intervention/policy environment

Health Data

Preterm Births:

  • Lancet Estimates: Preterm Birth Rate per 100 Live Births: 7.8 [7.3-8.3] 1
  • GBD Estimates: DALYS per 100,000 [CI]: 128 [100, 157] 2

Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - DALYS & Deaths: 3

  • DALYs per 100,000: 1.75 [1.26, 2.38]
  • Deaths per 100,000: 0.01 [0.01, 0.02]

Bone Fractures Incidence Rate per 100,000 [CI]: 2862.4 [2607.6, 3127.6] 4

Diet and Food Supply

Calcium Intake: 779.4mg/day (251.8) 5

Apparent Calcium Intake: 1047.2 mg/day 6

Policies

Calcium Fortification:
No fortification policy

Antenatal Care Guidelines: 7

  • Supplementation Recommendation:
    No recommendation
  • Food-Based Recommendation:
    • Milk, yogurt and cheese are excellent sources of calcium.
    • For women who do not consume milk or dairy products, vegetable drinks fortified with calcium are a good alternative

References:

1 Preterm Births - Lancet Estimates
Ohuma EO, Moller A-B, Bradley E, et al. National, regional, and global. estimates of preterm birth in 2020, with trends from 2010: a systematic analysis. Lancet 2023; 402: 1261–71.

2 Preterm Births - GBD Estimates
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Compare Data Visualization. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2023. Available from http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare. (Accessed 7/23/2025). For terms and conditions of use, please visit http://www.healthdata.org/about/terms-and-conditions

3 Maternal Hypertensive Disorders - DALYS & Deaths
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). GBD Compare Data Visualization. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2021. Seattle, WA: IHME, University of Washington, 2023. Available from http://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare. (Accessed 9/16/2024).

4 Bone Fractures
Global Burden of Disease Collaborative Network. Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021). Seattle, United States: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), 2022. Available from https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-results/. (Accessed 7/18/2025).

5 Calcium Intake
Abreu S, Santos PC, Montenegro N, Mota J. Relationship between dairy product intake during pregnancy and neonatal and maternal outcomes among Portuguese women. Obes Res Clin Pract 2017;11:276–86.

6 Apparent Calcium Intake
Updated for 2022 based on: Lividini, K., Masters, W.A. Tracing global flows of bioactive compounds from farm to fork in nutrient balance sheets can help guide intervention towards healthier food supplies. Nat Food 3, 703–715 (2022).

7 Antenatal Care Guidelines
Direção-Geral da Saúde. Portugal. ALIMENTAÇÃO E NUTRIÇÃO NA GRAVIDEZ. Published online 2021. Accessed August 7, 2021. https://www.asae.gov.pt/ficheiros-externos-2021/manual-gravidez_final-3-marco-2021-pdf.aspx