Looking after your bones

Making changes to your lifestyle can help keep your bones strong and healthy. If your bones are already weak, these changes can’t cure the problem but they can stop it getting worse.

Your daily diet

Eating a well balanced diet will give you the vitamins and minerals that are important for strong and healthy bones. Including foods from the four main groups in your diet – fruit and vegetables, carbohydrates, dairy and protein – will help to achieve this.

Calcium in your diet is vital for teeth and bone health as it gives them strength. Caffeine, salt, red meat and fizzy drinks contain phosphoric acid which may upset the calcium balance within the body. For this reason, it can be useful to reduce your intake of these.

Bone density is also affected by alcohol and the use of tobacco. Reducing your alcohol intake and reducing or stopping smoking may help lower any effects these substances might have on your bone density.

Calcium

Calcium is vital for keeping teeth and bones strong and rigid. An adult woman needs 700mg of calcium a day, although someone with osteoporosis needs 1,200mg. Most people can meet their calcium requirement through healthy eating.

Tips for boosting calcium intake:

• breakfast cereals and milk are an easy way of boosting intake at the start of the day
• dried apricots and figs are a good source of calcium
• some bottled mineral waters and juices are calcium enriched (and are a healthier alternative to fizzy drinks) – they are useful to look out for since the content of drinking water across the UK is very variable
• dairy produce like milk, yoghurts and cheese are an excellent source of calcium and are also produced in low fat varieties. If you decide that you wish to cut out dairy products from your diet completely, you still need to make sure that you are getting enough calcium in your diet from other sources or take a supplement if necessary
• fish, such as herrings, sardines, pilchards and whitebait are rich in calcium
• including green leafy vegetables like spinach, broccoli and curly kale will increase your calcium intake
• other good sources are pulses, kidney beans, green beans, baked beans, sesame seeds and tofu (a vegetable protein made from soya beans), margarine, cod liver oil and egg yolks.

Below is a sample table of foods and their calcium content.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is needed to help your body absorb calcium. The best source of this is sunlight, which your body uses to make this vitamin in your skin. Around 15-20 minutes of sun per day during the summer can provide enough vitamin D for the year in those aged up to 70. Daily outdoor activities such as walking or gardening will probably achieve this. However, as you age, your body is less able to make vitamin D from sunlight, so this makes your dietary intake of calcium even more important.

Exercise

Bones need regular weight-bearing exercise to stimulate growth and strength. Walking is an excellent form of exercise. And aerobics, tennis and dancing are all good bone building activities. However, if you do have osteoporosis, you should avoid high impact exercise where there is a higher possibility of injury.