Live Well
Looking after your Bones
Looking after your Bones – Calcium and Osteoporosis
1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men develop osteoporosis and one of the biggest causes is not eating the right foods.
Like every other part of your body, your bones benefit from a wide variety of foods – so you need to follow a fairly balanced diet to keep your bones at their best. However there are some key nutrients to look out for especially calcium and vitamin D.
What Can I do to Prevent Osteoporosis?
Following a healthy diet is the most important way to help prevent osteoporosis. You need to make sure you have the right balance of all the foods from the food pyramid and you need to pay special attention to calcium and vitamin D.
| Eat More Calcium The average person has between 1 and 1 ½ kg of calcium in their bones. Calcium is needed to keep bones hard and able to support the weight of your muscles, skin and internal organs. Calcium is one of the main building blocks – both for growing and for adult bones – so it’s easy to see that we need to eat some calcium rich foods everyday. It is very important that you eat plenty of calcium in your teens to make sure that your bones have all the calcium they need to develop and grow properly. As you get older it is important to eat plenty of calcium to help maintain your bones. Milk, cheese and yoghurt are all rich sources of calcium. To make sure you are getting enough calcium, you need to eat 3 portions of dairy products everyday. If you are in your teens, pregnant or breastfeeding then you need 5 servings of dairy products everyday. 1 serving of dairy is: 1/3 of a pint of milk (about 1 glass) 1 yoghurt 1oz of hard cheese (about the size of a small matchbox). |
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| Look Out for Vitamin D Vitamin D is needed to help your body to absorb calcium and to help build new bones. Our bodies make vitamin D when sun shines on our skin but if we cover up in the sun or use sunscreens we cut down on the amount of the vitamin our skin can make. Also, countries in the northern hemisphere, don’t get strong enough sunlight between September and March to make any vitamin D. The result? Many people are missing out on vitamin D and their bones may be at risk. For this reason it is important to eat some vitamin D rich foods. Vitamin D is found in oil-rich fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, herring and sardines, eggs and milk that has been fortified with vitamin D. |
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| Exercise Exercise helps to build healthy bones and is especially important during teenage years when most of your bone is laid down. Staying active as you get older can help to maintain the strength of your bones. Weight bearing exercise like walking, tennis, aerobics or gentle jogging is the best kind of exercise for healthy bones. |
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| Did you know…? Drinking more than 6 cups of strong coffee a day may increase your chances of developing osteoporosis. Other sources of calcium Green vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage contain small amounts of calcium, as do beans, seeds and nuts. These foods can give you some calcium but they are not a replacement for dairy foods – you would need 16 servings of broccoli to get all your calcium for just 1 day! |
| Traditional Rice Pudding This is a simple and time-honoured way to eat more calcium. Milk puddings make a great dessert as they are naturally low in fat and kids love it! 2oz/50g Pearl rice 750mls/1 ½ pints Low fat milk 2 tablespoons sugar 25g Sultanas (optional) Put all the ingredients into an oven proof dish and cook at 170 0C for 2-2 ½ hours. Stir it once or twice during the first hour and then leave it alone after that. The top will form a brown crust which you can enjoy or ignore. Delicious served on its own or with a little ice cream. |
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