Bone Health Diet Guidelines

Recommended steps to help promote strong, healthy bones.

By EatingWell Editors

Bone Health Diet Guidelines
Ten million Americans over the age of 50 have osteoporosis, a disease characterized by porous, frail bones and increased risk of fractures. An additional 44 million adults in America have thinning bones that put them in danger of developing the disease. While there are some risk factors for osteoporosis that you just can’t control (your genes, gender and your age are three), here’s the good news: everyone can make lifestyle changes that benefit bones—at any age. Here are tips for improving your bone health, from EatingWell’s nutrition experts.

Get enough calcium.

Ninety-nine percent of the calcium in your body is stored in your bones and teeth, keeping them strong; the other 1 percent circulates (via your blood) through the body and participates in important functions, including muscle contractions, blood clotting and hormone secretion. These reactions are necessary for life, so if your diet is low in calcium, your body draws the mineral from “banked” stores in your bones, to keep blood calcium levels normal. Over time, all this borrowing makes bones brittle. Indeed, lots of Americans aren’t getting enough calcium. Research suggests that many women consume daily less than half of the 1,000 to 1,300 mg of calcium recommended to build and maintain healthy bones. Dairy foods are the best sources of calcium. A cup of milk or yogurt supplies about 300 mg of calcium—so eating three (or four) servings of dairy will provide the recommended daily intake. Some green leafy vegetables, such as kale, are also good sources. Calcium-fortified juices and soymilks supply significant amounts of the mineral too. If you don’t get enough calcium from foods, you may need to take a calcium supplement.

Don’t forget vitamin D.

Vitamin D is to calcium what PayPal is to eBay: you need vitamin D to “lock in” calcium from food and get it into your bones. Vitamin D comes from two sources: the sun (UV light interacts with chemicals in your skin to produce it) and foods, including fortified dairy products, egg yolks, salmon, tuna and liver. Health experts recommend a daily intake between 200 and 800 IU of vitamin D per day. Some experts think the daily value is too low (see The Vitamin D Debate) and recommend 1000 IU—which generally requires taking a supplement since only a handful of foods are natural sources of vitamin D [fatty fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel; egg yolks supply a little] and fortified milk provides only 100 IU of D per cup.

“Stress” your skeleton (in a good way).


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