Improve Your Bone Health

You may not think much about bones unless you break one, but they play a vital role in your life. Bones provide the framework that shapes and supports your body. Along with muscles and joints, they allow you to move. They also protect your internal organs. That’s why it’s important to keep your bones strong and healthy.

As a child, you may have been told to drink your milk or to eat certain foods because they helped to build strong bones. And while it’s true that the earlier years of your life, from childhood through young adulthood, have the most impact on increasing bone mass, it’s never too late to improve your bone health.

Bones are made up of living tissue that is constantly changing and rebuilding itself, so the foods you eat and the exercise you do at any stage of life help improve the strength of your bones. Whether you are 9 or 99, here are some ways to keep your bones stronger.

Eat bone-building foods

Your bones need calcium, vitamin D and other key nutrients to stay strong. Women up to age 50 and men up to 70 should get at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily. If you’re older than that, aim for at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day. This total includes any calcium you get from food as well as supplements. You can’t absorb much more than 500mg of calcium at one time, so don’t try to get the full daily dose at one time.

Vitamin D is also important for bone health. Adults need about 800 IUs daily. However, your body produces vitamin D when exposed to the sun and some people need to take a supplement because it’s hard to get enough vitamin D from food.

Bone health also goes way beyond calcium and vitamin D. Another bone-building nutrient is protein since it is one of the building blocks of bone. Vitamin K, magnesium, boron, zinc and other nutrients all play a part in your bone health. That’s why consuming a well-rounded diet and not just focusing on how much calcium you get is the best way to keep bones strong.

Here are examples of bone-building foods to include in your diet:

• High calcium foods: dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt), soy products (tofu, edamame), leafy greens (kale, collards, Swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli), canned fish (sardines, salmon), beans, fortified plant milks
• Foods with vitamin D: cold water fish (salmon, halibut, mackerel, herring, sardines, tuna), egg yolks, mushrooms, foods fortified with vitamin D (milk, orange juice, cereal)
• Foods with magnesium: nuts, beans, greens, oats, salmon, oats, potatoes (with skin)
• High protein foods: chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb, seafood, eggs, lentils, beans, dairy and soy

Get enough physical activity

Another good way to keep your bones stronger as you age is to do weight-bearing activities and strength-training exercises regularly. These activities strengthen bones and muscles by making them work against a weight or force. This helps slow bone loss so you maintain better bone density.

• Weight-bearing activities: involve movements that use your legs to support your body weight against gravity, such as walking, dancing, running or climbing stairs.
• Strength-training exercises: involve exercises done with weights, resistance bands, gym equipment or your own body weight, such as lifting weights or doing push-ups.

Follow other healthy habits

Lifestyle habits like smoking and drinking alcohol can increase bone loss. If you smoke, it’s never too late to quit. If you drink alcohol, stick to one drink a day if you’re a woman or one to two drinks a day if you’re a man. Maintaining a healthy weight (not being overweight or underweight) also helps reduce the risk of bone loss and fractures.