Bones play an incredibly important role in our body, providing structure and protecting our organs. However, as we age and go through the menopause, our bone mass and bone strength begins to deteriorate, leading to health issues such as osteoporosis. According to the NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center, up to 90 percent of peak bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and by age 20 in boys, which makes youth the best time to “invest” in one’s bone health. The amount of bone tissue in the skeleton, known as bone mass, can keep growing until the late 20s. At that point, bones have reached their maximum strength and density, known as peak bone mass. Women tend to experience minimal change in total bone mass between age 30 and menopause. But in the first few years after menopause, most women go through rapid bone loss. However, it’s never too late to start thinking about what you can do to keep your bones, joints and muscles strong, so here are the best bone health tips you need to know.
How to prevent bone loss As with most aspects of our health, diet and exercise play a huge role. In essence, that means eating foods good for maintaining bone mineral density, increasing your intake of beneficial nutrients and vitamins, and taking part in regular exercise.
Focus on your diet A healthy diet is essential, particularly when it comes to the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis ; a bone disease that causes weak bones as the body breaks down more bone tissue than it can replace, leading to around 500,000 broken bones every year.
According to leading natural health expert Jayney Goddard, eating a plant-based diet that is rich in whole foods will help tremendously in helping you avoid osteoporosis and the trauma of a broken bone: “The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence demonstrates that this way of eating is the most health-supporting. Consume fresh fruits, vegetables and beans, and avoid processed foods, white flours and refined sugars.”While osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease, according to cancer.net , other factors that contribute to the loss of bone mass include bone cancer, certain types of chemotherapy, heavy smoking or drinking lots of alcohol, and cancer that has spread to the bone – these include breast cancer, lung cancer and multiple myeloma.
Reduce stress Chronic stress takes a huge toll on our overall health, but it’s also bad for your bones. As stress causes our levels of cortisol to rise, your fracture risk increases. While we can’t necessarily eliminate all sources of stress, it’s important to find ways to reduce it, as well as learn to control your reaction to stressful situations. Some ideas include meditation and yoga, but if you’re really struggling to manage your stress levels, speak to your GP.
Incorporate cardio and strength training Exercise should be a priority for every aspect of your health and wellbeing, and it’s also extremely beneficial for your bone health , as women’s health expert Dr Marilyn Glenville points out.
If your bone health is normal, choose physical activity that you enjoy doing, and can participate in on a regular basis to meet the government’s official physical activity guidelines of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.
Are you wondering ‘does weight bearing exercise increase bone density’? The answer is yes! If your bones are osteopenic (meaning you have lower bone density than normal), then using a combination of weight bearing exercise and resistance exercise will be beneficial.
Finally, if your bones are already osteoporotic (meaning you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis), exercise should still be a priority, just be careful that the type of exercise you do isn’t going to cause your body any further damage.
Foods for better bone health Did you know that your diet has a huge impact on your bones? This is the best food for bone, muscle and joint health which can be easily added to a healthy balanced diet, and it’s not just dairy products containing calcium that can support bone condition, which you’ll be glad to hear if you follow a vegan diet. While you can get the following vitamins and minerals from vitamin supplements or vitamin drops, eating a whole food, varied diet should allow you to get enough of the nutrients you need to support bone health. Although it’s important advice for adults to follow, it’s also vital for the bone growth of children’s bones and teenagers’ bones.
Foods that increase bone density We’ve always been told to eat our veggies, and it seems their benefits are numerous! Eating green varieties, such as leafy veg, broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts, is a great way of incorporating vitamin K into your diet, which helps to build strong bones.
Water and bone health It’s not only what you eat that impacts your bone health, but what you drink as well. Studies have shown that carbonated drinks, even fizzy water, cause us to lose calcium from our bones, owing to their high levels of phosphorus. So keep fizzy drinks and sparkling water to a minimum to avoid that risk, opting instead for plain water.
Vitamin C for bone health Bone-healing foods that are rich in vitamin C are key to keeping bones resilient and flexible, as well as being key to tooth and gum health. This is because vitamin C is essential to the formation of collagen, which creates healthy bone structure. In fact, higher vitamin C levels may improve your bone strength and bone mass. So be sure to load up on fruit and vegetables such as berries, citrus, peppers and tomatoes.
Eat to beat magnesium deficiency Magnesium works together with vitamin D in maintaining bone health, and also aids the absorption of calcium.
Magnesium-rich foods include wheat germ, buckwheat, raisins and beans (especially adzuki, chickpeas, black-eyed peas and lentils). If you’re wondering which nuts are good for bones, stock up on almonds, cashew nuts and Brazil nuts.
Calcium-rich foods for bones Our bodies use calcium to build healthy bones and teeth. It’s well known that dairy food such as milk and yoghurt are packed with calcium, but what else can help you up your calcium intake? According to nutritional therapist Henrietta Norton, certain cheeses such as Swiss and Cheddar cheeses are great sources of calcium, as are parsley, globe artichokes, prunes, pumpkin seeds and brewers’ yeast. However, it’s important to point out that to help your body with calcium absorption, you should up your intake of vitamin D.
Understanding osteoporosis In the UK, over three million people are estimated to have osteoporosis, and unfortunately many cases go undiagnosed until bone fractures occur. The symptoms of this disease include numbness, weakness and chronic pain, but you may be unaware of the issue until it’s too late.
One in three women aged 45 and over now suffers from the condition. While men are at risk too, just one in nine are susceptible to developing osteoporosis. So what increases the risk factor of women being diagnosed with osteoporosis?
“The condition is less common in men because of differences in the changes in bone density with age,” Dr Marilyn explains. “While men do not experience the rapid loss of bone around the age of 50 that women do, there is a decline, but it is much more gradual.”
However, as well as hormonal changes being a cause of this condition, an eating disorder such as anorexia can also lead to early-onset osteoporosis. According to Eating Disorder Hope , about three-quarters of women who meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa (those who are 85 percent or less of their ideal body weight), show some evidence of bone mineral deficiency. In fact, these women might not know that they have a problem until they fall and break a hip. The slightest, most unexpected movement or event might trigger a fracture or broken bone in a woman recovering from an eating disorder who has osteoporosis.
So can osteoporosis be reversed? While conventional medicine has its limits in terms of improving the condition, according to Jayney, changes in lifestyle can offer real improvements.
Here’s how to lower your risk of developing osteoporosis.
Understand your hormones “As menopause approaches, bone loss accelerates,” Jayney says. “The loss of bone calcium may be related to the drop in oestrogens and/or progesterone.”
While the use of prescription hormone replacements may help to slow bone loss, it doesn’t usually stop it altogether, according to Jayney. Instead, consider natural progesterone, a safer and more effective alternative that is bio-identical to human progesterone.
Consider an osteoporosis test If you think you may be at risk of developing osteoporosis or want to prevent it, the first port of call is an ultrasound bone scan, Dr Marilyn notes. You can also consider a DEXA scan, which is essentially a bone density test of your hip and spine, as well as a bone turnover test, which will look at your rate of bone loss.
Meanwhile, a mineral analysis test is a simple way of identifying any main mineral deficiencies in your body. Analysing your digestive system is also useful, as efficient digestion is crucial in the fight against the condition.
Osteoporosis diet According to Jayney, acid-forming diets are one of the biggest problems, particularly for people who follow a conventional Western diet that’s filled with large amounts of animal protein, processed foods, low-quality fats and refined sugars.
In order to protect your bones, it’s important to eat an alkalising diet that includes plenty of plant-based, vitamin-rich foods.
Osteoporosis foods to eat, and foods to avoid If you suffer from osteoporosis, key vitamins to consider including in your diet are calcium, vitamins C and D, and magnesium.
Foods rich in these include berries, peppers, tomatoes, broccoli and kale, as well as cheese, oily fish, nuts and pulses.
Deeper root vegetables are also great as they’re an excellent source of trace minerals that help to support bone mineral density. Also incorporate healthy fats such as omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, found in raw nuts and seeds.
It’s also worth understanding what not to eat if you have osteoporosis. Caffeine and salt are both known to diminish calcium levels, so be wary of the amount of coffee you drink, and ensure you consume a low-salt diet.
Bone health supplements While supplements should never be your first port of call if you’re suffering from a vitamin deficiency, some people may need to top up.
There are several vitamins that can be helpful in preventing bone loss, maintaining bone mineral density and encouraging bone repair. Here are some of the best bone care supplements to try.
Counteract vitamin D deficiency Vitamin D is a vital vitamin that helps to support everything from our moods to our immune systems, as well as aiding with calcium absorption. In fact, healthy vitamin D levels can even slow bone loss. According to the NHS , a lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults.
Our bodies are able to make vitamin D from cholesterol when our skin is exposed to sunlight. That’s all well and good in the summer, but from about September onwards, many of us may be deficient in the all-important vitamin D. Luckily, there are lots of ways to obtain more vitamin D in your diet. Consider taking a vitamin D supplement every day during the winter – according to the government’s latest guidelines, you should take 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D a day between October and early March to keep your bones and muscles healthy. 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people. You shouldn’t take more than 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) of vitamin D a day as it could be harmful. This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17 years.
Not sure about taking a vitamin D supplement? Good sources of this vitamin include oily fish, red meat, liver, egg yolk and fortified foods. Plus, a study, published in the journal of Dermato-Endocrinology , found that mushrooms can provide as much of this essential vitamin as a supplement if you leave them in the sun for half an hour before eating!
Research shows that vitamin D can reduce fractures as much as or even more than drug treatment. As well as that, studies have also found a link between chronic lower back pain and a vitamin D deficiency. So if you’re wondering ‘can vitamin D deficiency cause back pain’, the answer could be yes.
Boost your calcium intake Taking a vitamin D and a calcium supplement together can work well for bone health, and it’s also worth looking at vitamin K2 supplements.
Magnesium for bones Magnesium oil topical sprays are thought to offer some benefits, as magnesium absorbed through the skin may help with pain in a localised area. BetterYou’s Magnesium + Calcium Lotion combines two essential nutrients in one to support normal bone health.
Essential fatty acids Consider a fish oil supplement or a plant-based alternative. Look out for one with a good level of the omega-3 fatty acid EPA in particular, sourced from oily fish, as this is thought to be the most helpful for reducing inflammation.
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Lynne Franks
Discover how a few simple lifestyle changes can make all the difference
