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Safety & Wellness

Boosting your bone health- Do you have enough calcium and Vitamin D for healthy bones

June 26, 2023

Boosting your bone health- Do you have enough calcium and vitamin D for healthy bones?

Human beings require a variety of nutrients to lead a healthy life. An appropriate, well balanced diet together with regular physical activity is a keystone of good health. Poor nutrition might lead to reduced immunity, increased vulnerability to diseases, and compromised physical and mental development.

 

Consumption of a healthy and well-balanced diet throughout the life-time helps in preventing malnutrition and variety of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and clinical conditions. But due to rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles, increased intake of junk foods has led to a shift in dietary patterns.

 

Importance of bone health

Bone health is important to the overall health and quality of life of individuals. Healthy bones contribute to many positive health effects and bones are in the process of continuous metabolic changes, therefore they must adapt to the stresses enforced upon them. Bones provide the body gait, aid in mobility and the body skeleton provides protection against injury. Poor bone health can lead to some chronic ailments such as osteoporosis, low bone density, osteoarthritis and many others. Osteoporosis meaning “porous bone” is a chronic disease that makes the bones weak and brittle.

 

Factors contributing to bone health

There are many factors contribute to bone health. Some of them are genetic predisposition, nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D, physical activity, excessive weight, alcohol & smoking, and falls.

 

Diet and bone health

Osteoporosis is generally considered as “a paediatric disease with geriatric consequences.” The disease is firmly rooted with the lifestyle and diet maintained in childhood and adolescence for achieving desired peak bone mass (PBM). The risk of fractures due to osteoporosis can be reduced by 50% later in life if there is a 10% increase in PBM.

Diet and physical activity are considered as two main, modifiable factors that affect bone health. Bone health has been an area of interest in early modern nutrition science focusing on single- nutrient diseases, with vitamin D, preventing nutritional rickets. Supplementation with cod liver oil and vitamin D fortified foods, especially of infant formula foods, can lead to remarkable reduction in nutritional rickets in majority of developing and developed countries.

In healthy adults main goal for bone health is to avoid premature bone loss which might increase the risk of bone fractures in later life. In older adults main objective is to prevent osteoporosis so as to reduce the risk of fragility fractures.

 

Relationship between bone mineral density (BMD) and adequate nutrient intake

In many bone ailments, especially postmenopausal women, adequate nutrient intake is important for the prevention of osteoporosis. Balanced diets including adequate dairy products contribute to healthy bone status. Clinical data demonstrates that nutrients such as calcium and vitamin D, are associated with an increase in bone mineral density (BMD). Calcium and vitamin D supplementation in the elderly has been reported to reduce bone loss in the femoral neck, and spine.

 

Calcium as a building block for bones

Calcium is the main bone-forming mineral and an adequate supply to bone is essential at all stages of life. Without calcium, we couldn’t build (or maintain) our bones or teeth. Most of the calcium in our bodies serves as the key structural component in our skeleton. Skeleton is considered as “reserve for calcium” from which withdrawals can be made to release calcium whenever there is a drop in calcium levels occur.

 

Calcium rich foods

 

• Vegetables

Broccoli, chinese cabbage, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, okra, turnip greens

 

• Fruits

Blackberries, blackcurrants, clementine, dates, dried apricots, figs, guavas, kiwi fruit, lemons, oranges, papaya, raspberries, and strawberries

 

• Nuts and seeds

Almonds, flax seeds, sesame seeds

 

• Fish

Sardines, salmon canned in oil with bones

 

• Milk and Dairy

Milk, yoghurt, buttermilk, cheese (cottage, mozzarella, cheddar), tofu

 

Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption

Vitamin D is important for active calcium absorption and maintain bone mass.

 

- Facilitates active calcium absorption:

Our bodies cannot efficiently absorb calcium without vitamin D. In children, vitamin D deficiency cause rickets which causes bone weakness and increased risk for fracture, bowed legs, and stooped posture. In adults, very low vitamin D deficiency, can develop a condition called osteomalacia (soft bones) which can cause pain in bones, and deformities of long bones, and an increased risk of fracture.

 

- Improves muscle strength and repair:

There are numerous mechanisms by which muscle mass and bone mass are connected with vitamin D. 12 Vitamin D helps in the formation and development of new muscle cells and in regulation of healing of muscles after injury.

 

Vitamin D as “sunshine vitamin”

Natural sunlight is the major source of vitamin D for children and adults. Thus, the major cause of Vitamin D deficiency is inadequate exposure to sunlight. Generally, people with a naturally dark skin require at least 3-5 times longer exposure compared to a fair skin person to make the same amount of vitamin D. Moreover, applying a sunscreen on the skin with a sun protection factor of 30 reduces vitamin D production by more than 95%.

 

Vitamin D rich foods

• Fish: Salmon, sardines, herring mackerel, tuna fish

• Red meat, liver, egg yolks

 

• Fortified foods: Fat spreads and breakfast cereals

• Cod liver oil

 

• Fruits: Apple, banana

 

• Vegetables: Broccoli, carrots

 

• Cereals: Brown rice, lentils

 

Some other important micronutrients for healthy bones are magnesium, manganese, zinc, silicon, boron, and vitamin K.

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