Prevent Osteoporosis by Keeping Your Bones Strong

Milk and cheese can help prevent osteoporosis

Everyone needs strong bones. Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become brittle and are more likely to break. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks.

Osteoporosis leads to an increase risk of bone fractures typically in the wrist, hip, and spine. A broken hip almost always requires hospitalization and major surgery. It can impair a person's ability to walk unassisted and may cause long-term or permanent disability or even death.

Contrary to popular belief, osteoporosis is not a natural part of aging and is preventable in most people. You can improve your bone health through weight-bearing exercise and adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D.

Activity is important for maintaining strong bones. Any exercise that puts weight on your bones will help your bones stay strong. Walking is a good "bone exercise" and is ideal because it can be done anywhere and can easily fit into your day. Jogging, dancing, stair climbing, tennis, yoga and weight training are also good examples of weight-bearing exercise.

The Role of Calcium

Calcium is one of the minerals that helps build strong bones, especially during childhood and young adult years. We all lose bone mass as we age, but if you've built up bone mass early in life, the loss is less likely to cause devastating problems as you age.

What is your calcium IQ?

Strong bones depend on many things. How many yes answers do you have to the following questions?

Are you female?
Do you have a family history of osteoporosis (sibling, parent or grandparent) or broken hips?
Do you diet to lose weight much of the time?
Do you do weight-bearing activities (running, walking, weight training) less than three times a week?
Do you get less than 15 minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) daily?
Have you gone through menopause without taking estrogen replacement therapy?
Do you eat less than 3 servings of calcium-rich foods every day? (One serving = 1 cup of milk, yogurt or calcium-fortified orange juice, 1 1/2 oz. of cheddar cheese)

The more you answered "yes," the more your bones are at risk. Some of these things you cannot change, but others you can - for example, getting enough calcium from the foods you eat and drink every day.

The foundation for a lifetime of strong bones is built during the teen and young adult years until about age 30. This represents your peak bone mass. This is the strongest your bones will ever be. The trick is to keep them that way the rest of your life.

Women are at increased risk because their bones are less dense to start with and after menopause, bone loss is accelerated due to hormone changes. This is a time when women need to be particularly attentive to bone health.

How much calcium do you need?

Although calcium alone cannot prevent or cure osteoporosis, it plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of the disease.

The Current Calcium Recommendations

Group (years)	Calcium mg/day
1-3	500
4-8	800
9-18	1300
19-50	1000
51-70	1200
70+	1200

The upper limit level is 2500 mg/day for all age groups.

The best natural food sources of calcium are milk and dairy foods, which provide about 75% of the calcium in the American diet. However, calcium is only one of the nutrients you need for bone health.

Vitamin D also plays an important role in healthy bone development. Vitamin D helps in the absorption of calcium (this is why milk is fortified with vitamin D). Others include vitamin A, magnesium, zinc, phosphorus and protein. Foods often provide unique nutrient packages. Milk, for example, is a nearly perfect package of bone-building nutrients.

Other food sources of calcium include broccoli, almonds, tofu and beans.