How to Build Bone Health

Bones serve a multitude of purposes in the body, including structural support, organ protection, muscle attachment, and calcium storage. While having strong and healthy bones is important during childhood and adolescence, you may also protect your bone health as an adult. New bone is formed, and old bone is broken down, therefore your bones are always changing. Your body generates new bone faster than it breaks down old bone when you’re young, so your bone mass increases. Around the age of 30, most people reach their peak bone mass. The remodeling of the bones continues after that, but you lose slightly more bone mass than you gain.

How much bone mass you have by the time you reach 30 and how quickly you lose it after that determines your risk of developing osteoporosis, a disorder that causes bones to become weak and brittle. You’re less prone to develop osteoporosis as you get older if you have more bone in the bank.

10 Factors that Affect Bone Health

Bone health is influenced by a variety of factors, some of which include:

The Calcium Content of your Diet

A low-calcium diet leads to decreased bone density, early bone loss, and a higher risk of fractures.

Physical Activity

People who are not physically active are more likely to develop osteoporosis than those who are.

Sex

Because women have less bone tissue than men, they are more likely to develop osteoporosis.

Size

If you’re exceptionally thin (BMI of 19 or below) or have a small body frame, you’re at risk, since you’ll have less bone mass to draw from as you become older.

Age

As you become older, your bones get thinner and weaker.

Hormone Levels

Thyroid hormone overproduction can lead to bone loss. Since estrogen levels diminish throughout menopause, bone loss in women accelerates rapidly. Low testosterone levels in men might lead to a loss of bone mass.

Eating Disorders and other Illnesses

Both men and women lose bone mass when they severely reduce their dietary intake and are underweight. Weight-loss surgery, as well as illnesses like celiac disease, might impair your body’s ability to absorb calcium.

Race and Family History

You’re more likely to get osteoporosis if you’re white or Asian. Having an osteoporosis-affected parent or sibling also raises your risk, especially if you have a history of fractures in your family.

Tobacco and Alcoholic Beverages

Smoking is linked to brittle bones. Similarly, having more than one alcoholic drink per day for women and two alcoholic drinks per day for men can increase the risk of osteoporosis.

Certain Medications

Long-term usage of corticosteroid drugs such as prednisone, cortisone, prednisolone, and dexamethasone can cause bone damage. Aromatase inhibitors used to treat breast cancer, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, methotrexate, various anti-seizure medications like phenytoin and phenobarbital, and proton pump inhibitors are all pharmaceuticals that may raise the risk of osteoporosis.

7 Ways to Improve Bone Health Naturally

Eat your Veggies

Vegetables are excellent for bone health, as they contain loads of vitamin C which aids in the production of bone-forming cells. Furthermore, some research suggests that vitamin C’s antioxidant properties may help to protect bone cells from harm.
Vegetables also appear to boost the bone mineral density and bone density. The quantity of calcium and other minerals found in your bones is measured by bone density. Low bone density is a feature of both osteopenia (low bone mass) and osteoporosis (brittle bones).

Increased bone mineralization during childhood and the maintenance of bone mass in young adults has been linked to a high diet of green and yellow vegetables.

Consume High-Calcium Foods

Calcium is the mineral that makes up the majority of your bones and is the most important for bone health. Calcium ingestion should be done on a daily basis to preserve bone shape and strength because old bone cells are constantly broken down and replaced by new ones.
For most people, the RDI for calcium is 1,000 milligrams per day, whereas teens need 1,300 milligrams and elderly women need 1,200 milligrams. The quantity of calcium your body really absorbs, on the other hand, might vary substantially. Surprisingly, if you consume more than 500 mg of calcium in a meal, your body absorbs far less of it than if you ingest less.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

Maintaining a healthy weight, as well as eating nutritious foods, can help to support bone health, because being underweight increases the risk of osteopenia and osteoporosis. This is especially true in postmenopausal women who have lost estrogen’s bone-strengthening properties. In fact, in this age range, low body weight is the primary cause of decreased bone density and bone loss. Obesity, on the other hand, may degrade the bone quality and increase the incidence of fractures due to the stress of extra weight. While bone loss is frequent with weight loss, it is usually less noticeable in obese persons than it is in people of normal weight.

Pay Attention to Vitamin D

Calcium absorption necessitates vitamin D. For those aged 19 to 70, the RDA for vitamin D is 600 international units (IUs) per day. The daily dose is increased to 800 IUs for persons aged 71 and up. Vitamin D is abundant in oily fish such as salmon, trout, whitefish, and tuna. Other good sources of vitamin D include mushrooms, eggs, and fortified foods like milk and cereals. The production of vitamin D in the body is also aided by sunlight. If you’re concerned about getting enough vitamin D, talk to your doctor about taking vitamin D supplements.

Avoid Low-Calorie Diet

It’s never a smart idea to severely limit your caloric intake. In addition to decreasing your metabolism, inducing rebound hunger, and causing muscle mass loss, it can harm your bones. Diets that provide fewer than 1,000 calories per day are linked to reduced bone density in those who are normal weight, overweight, or obese, according to research. Follow a well-balanced diet with at least 1,200 calories each day to grow and maintain strong bones. It should be high in protein, as well as vitamin and mineral-rich foods that help to maintain bone health.

Overall, it appears that losing and regaining weight, as well as losing a significant amount of weight in a short period of time, is particularly damaging to bone health.
Maintaining a stable normal or slightly higher-than-average weight is your best bet for bone health.

Physical Activity

Physical activity should be a part of your daily routine. Walking, jogging, and climbing stairs are all weight-bearing exercises that can help you grow strong bones and slow bone loss.

Eat Magnesium and Zinc-Rich Foods

Calcium isn’t the sole mineral that’s important for bone health. Other minerals such as magnesium and zinc, play a role as well. Magnesium helps convert vitamin D to its active form, which helps with calcium absorption. Although magnesium is present in small amounts in most diets, only a few foods are exceptionally high in magnesium. Supplements containing magnesium glycinate, citrate, or carbonate may be beneficial.

Zinc is a trace mineral that must be consumed at minutes levels. It helps your bones to become more mineralized. Zinc also promotes the formation of bone-building cells and helps to prevent excessive bone deterioration. Beef, shrimp, spinach, flaxseeds, oysters, and pumpkin seeds are all good sources of omega-3 fatty acids.

Now that you Know…

Bone health is vital throughout one’s life. However, because symptoms usually don’t sh6w up until bone loss has progressed, people tend to take their strong bones for granted. Fortunately, there are a number of nutritional and lifestyle behaviors that can help with bone development and maintenance, and it’s never too early to start.