Calcium 600 mg per tablet vs 830 mg per 5 tabs: what three panels and six fronts print

A calcium front may print one large number or none at all. Of the six containers on this page, one prints 600 mg on its face, one prints “600” with no unit at all, and the other four print no amount on the front. The Supplement Facts panel settles whether a number belongs to one tablet or to a handful, and our photographs include a legible panel for three of the six: two Nature Made tablet bottles and the Swisse mini tabs. For the two Caltrate products and the Nature’s Bounty gummies we report the front only. The vitamin D3 line above calcium needs a second look: two of the three panels print it in micrograms and IU side by side, the third in micrograms only. Label math only, as always in this series; nothing here says what calcium does.

Six fronts, three panels

Serving size is the line that decides what a front number means. Both Nature Made panels count one tablet; the Swisse panel counts five. Here is each label, read from our photographs, with the calcium line copied from the Supplement Facts panel wherever we have a legible one.

Only one front number and one panel number line up directly. The Nature Made bottle that prints 600 mg and “WITH D3” on the front prints “Calcium (as Calcium Carbonate)” 600 mg beside “Serving Size 1 Tablet” on the back, so the front figure is a per-tablet figure. The Nature Made Calcium Magnesium Zinc front prints the three mineral names, “WITH D3” and “VALUE SIZE” but no amount; its panel, headed “Amount Per Tablet”, supplies 333 mg. The Swisse front prints “CALCIUM + VITAMIN D”, “MINI TABS” and “300 TABLETS” with no amount; its panel prints 830 mg for a five-tablet serving. The Caltrate chewables front prints “600+D3 PLUS MINERALS”, the number 600 with no unit and no per-tablet or per-serving wording, and no panel is in our photographs to say what the 600 counts.

Calcium per tablet: 600 mg, 333 mg and 166 mg

Dividing each panel’s calcium figure by its serving count puts the three on one footing.

• Nature Made Calcium 600 mg: 600 mg per 1 tablet is 600 mg per tablet. The suggested-use line reads “Adults, take 1 tablet 1 to 2 times daily with water and a meal”; two tablets would be 2 × 600 mg = 1,200 mg.
• Nature Made Calcium Magnesium Zinc: 333 mg per 1 tablet is 333 mg per tablet. Its line reads “Adults, take 1 tablet up to 3 times daily with water and a meal”; three tablets would be 3 × 333 mg = 999 mg. Two tablets, 2 × 333 mg = 666 mg, already pass one 600 mg tablet, and 600 ÷ 333 is about 1.8.
• Swisse Mini Tabs: 830 mg per 5 tablets is 166 mg per tablet (830 ÷ 5 = 166). The front calls them “EASY TO SWALLOW MINI TABLETS”; the per-piece figure is the smallest of the three and the per-serving figure the largest.

The two Nature Made panels print cautions as well. The 600 mg bottle: “CAUTION: If you are taking any medications, consult your physician before use.” The Calcium Magnesium Zinc bottle: “CAUTION: If you have kidney disease or are taking any medication, consult your physician before use.” Both back panels print further text beyond the caution that this guide does not quote; on the 600 mg bottle it is cut off at the edge of our photograph. The Swisse directions and warning block were not photographed. On multivitamin panels the same row prints far smaller figures: 52 mg (4%), 75 mg (6%) and 130 mg (10%) of calcium per serving on the three panels that carry one in our multivitamin gummies vs capsules vs tablets read.

Carbonate and citrate: the bracket after Calcium, as printed

Each calcium line carries a bracket after the word Calcium, and the three panels print two different compounds there. The Nature Made panels print “Calcium (as Calcium Carbonate)”. The Swisse panel prints “Calcium (as calcium citrate tetrahydrate)”, with the compound in lower case. The milligram figure on the line is the panel’s calcium figure; the bracket names the compound it arrives in, and none of the three panels prints a weight for that compound. The same convention runs through “Magnesium (as Magnesium Oxide)” and “Zinc (as Zinc Sulfate)” on the Nature Made Calcium Magnesium Zinc panel, and our guide to magnesium labels and elemental mg walks through the same bracket on magnesium bottles.

The Swisse panel also prints a row the carbonate panels do not: “Iron (as iron oxides)” 0.4 mg, 2% DV, which is 0.08 mg per tablet (0.4 ÷ 5 = 0.08). The Caltrate fronts read “Calcium Supplement” and name no compound.

Vitamin D3 in micrograms and IU on the same line

Each of the three panels prints a vitamin D line directly above the calcium line, all in micrograms; two of the three add an IU figure beside the micrograms.

• Nature Made Calcium 600 mg: “Vitamin D3 (as Cholecalciferol)”, printed as “10 mcg (400 IU)”, 50% DV.
• Nature Made Calcium Magnesium Zinc: “Vitamin D3 (as Cholecalciferol)”, printed as “5 mcg (200 IU)”, 25% DV.
• Swisse Mini Tabs: “Vitamin D (as cholecalciferol)” 20.8 mcg, 104% DV, with no IU figure printed.

The two Nature Made lines show the exchange rate in print: 400 IU ÷ 10 mcg = 40, and 200 IU ÷ 5 mcg = 40, so on both labels one microgram is 40 IU. The 600 mg tablet carries twice the D3 of the Calcium Magnesium Zinc tablet (10 ÷ 5 = 2), and the %DV doubles with it (50 ÷ 25 = 2). The Swisse serving, 20.8 mcg, is a little more than twice 10 mcg (10 × 2 = 20), and its %DV is a little more than twice 50% (50 × 2 = 100; the panel prints 104%). Per tablet, the Swisse figure is 20.8 ÷ 5 = 4.16 mcg. The Nature Made lines say “Vitamin D3”, the Swisse line “Vitamin D”; all three put cholecalciferol in the bracket.

Among the three products without a panel, the vitamin D figure we can read is not on a container: a graphic above the Nature’s Bounty bottle prints 1000 IU per serving inside a longer marketing line. It is in IU, with no microgram figure beside it and no serving size in any of our photographs. The Caltrate chewables front prints “D3” inside “600+D3 PLUS MINERALS” and no D amount; the Caltrate Gummy Bites front prints no D figure.

Magnesium, zinc and the multimineral panel

Of the three photographed panels, only the Nature Made Calcium Magnesium Zinc panel prints mineral rows beyond calcium. Per tablet it reads: “Calcium (as Calcium Carbonate)” 333 mg, 26% DV; “Magnesium (as Magnesium Oxide)” 133 mg, 32% DV; “Zinc (as Zinc Sulfate)” 5 mg, 45% DV; with the “5 mcg (200 IU)” vitamin D3 line above them. The %DV does not follow the milligrams from row to row: 5 mg of zinc reads 45%, 133 mg of magnesium 32%, and 333 mg of calcium 26%. At three tablets, the top of the printed range, the figures would be 3 × 333 mg = 999 mg calcium, 3 × 133 mg = 399 mg magnesium, 3 × 5 mg = 15 mg zinc and 3 × 5 mcg = 15 mcg (3 × 200 IU = 600 IU) vitamin D3.

Two of the panel-less fronts also name extra minerals. The Caltrate chewables print “PLUS MINERALS” after “600+D3”, and the Nature’s Bounty gummies print “Calcium +D3+Zinc”; the Caltrate front does not say which minerals, and neither front prints an amount for any of them, zinc included. The Caltrate chewables front also prints “SUGAR FREE” and “90 CHEWABLE TABLETS”.

Calcium per container and the servings line

Of the three photographed panels, only the Swisse panel prints a servings-per-container line: 60 servings of 5 tablets, which is 60 × 5 = 300 tablets, the same count the front prints as “300 TABLETS”. Neither Nature Made panel prints a servings line under “Serving Size 1 Tablet”. The Calcium Magnesium Zinc front prints “300 TABLETS”; at one tablet per serving, that is 300 ÷ 1 = 300 servings. For the 600 mg bottle the count comes from a graphic beside the bottle in our photograph, “120 TABLETS”; the bottle front itself prints no count, and 120 ÷ 1 = 120 servings.

Of the three containers we can total, the 300-tablet Calcium Magnesium Zinc bottle holds the most calcium, 99.9 g. Half of that is 99.9 ÷ 2 ≈ 50 g, almost exactly the 49.8 g in the 300-tablet Swisse tub, and the 120-tablet 600 mg bottle lands between them at 72 g. The three containers without a photographed panel print their counts on the front, “90 CHEWABLE TABLETS”, “50 GUMMY BITES” and “70 Gummies”, but no per-serving calcium, so no total can be worked out for them.

Quick answers

Is the 600 mg on the Nature Made front per tablet? Yes. The panel prints “Serving Size 1 Tablet” and “Calcium (as Calcium Carbonate)” 600 mg, 46% DV, and the suggested-use line counts tablets one at a time: “Adults, take 1 tablet 1 to 2 times daily with water and a meal”.

How much calcium is in one Swisse mini tab? 830 mg per 5 tablets is 166 mg per tablet (830 ÷ 5 = 166). The vitamin D line works out to 4.16 mcg per tablet (20.8 ÷ 5) and the iron line to 0.08 mg (0.4 ÷ 5).

Which of these labels prints calcium citrate? One of the three photographed panels: Swisse, “Calcium (as calcium citrate tetrahydrate)” 830 mg. Both Nature Made panels print “Calcium (as Calcium Carbonate)”.

Do the calcium gummies print a dose on the front? No. The Caltrate Gummy Bites front prints “50 GUMMY BITES” and “Black Cherry, Orange & Strawberry”; the Nature’s Bounty front prints “Calcium +D3+Zinc”, “Orange & Cherry Flavored Gummies” and “70 Gummies”. For the Nature’s Bounty gummies a graphic above the bottle prints a vitamin D figure, 1000 IU per serving, inside a longer marketing line; the Caltrate Gummy Bites photographs print no amount at all.

This guide reports the quantities printed on three calcium panels and six fronts, nothing more. The six products live in the Iron & Calcium collection and the Bone & Joint collection; for the microgram-to-IU step the Swisse panel leaves out, see the IU to mcg and mg conversion chart, and for the layout of the panel itself, how to read a Supplement Facts label.