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Osteoporosis Nutrition & Prevention

Your bone structure and strength is largely determined by your genes, but your lifestyle helps shape how healthy your bones are throughout your lifetime. And it is never too late to prevent or slow down the development of osteoporosis. Below we have listed lifestyle elements that you can easily follow to build and maintain healthy bones and prevent fractures.

Osteoporosis nutrition

Whether you have osteoporosis or want to prevent it, your diet is very important. What makes bones strong and flexible are the nutrients contained in it. which in the most part are derived from what you eat. Many nutrients contribute to bone health, the most important of which are: calcium; vitamin D3; vitamin K2; magnesium; silicon; boron; zinc; vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body. Typically, a person has about 1 kg of calcium in the body and 99% of it is contained in the bones. But calcium cannot work alone; vitamin D3 is also essential as it helps calcium absorption into the bones as well as improving muscle strength. But the rest of the nutrients mentioned above also work in synergy to build and maintain bone strength. The following is a list of what these nutrients can do for you:

• Increase bone density by increasing natural osteoblast (bone formation) activity.
• Inhibit osteoclast activity (breaking down of bone).
• Vitamin D maintains normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorous and helps in the absorption of calcium.
• Reduce the risk of fractures.
• Maintain healthy bone and joint formation.
• Boron increases calcium uptake.
• Increase muscle power and strength.
• Counteract oxidative stress, which contributes to bone deterioration.
• Reduce the risk of osteoporosis.

So now that which vitamins and minerals are essential for bone health are known, what is the best way to ensure you are getting enough levels of them? You may think that following a healthy diet is not enough; but in reality it is not, according to many scientific studies. The vast majority of people are not getting sufficient levels of calcium, vitamin D and all the rest of important nutrients for good bone health, even by following what we would call a healthy, balanced diet. Why? For one, the way food is manufactured and processed food that is quick and easy to prepare. Additionally, we are indoors a lot more than our ancestors, which is detrimental to getting enough levels of vitamin D from the sun

The best way to get optimum amounts of the above-mentioned vitamins and minerals to build and maintain bone density is to take a natural nutritional supplement for osteoporosis in addition to basic vitamins and minerals.

Click here if you want more information on a natural osteoporosis prevention and treatment solution

What you can do to prevent osteoporosis

• Exercise: regular exercise (about 30 minutes at least three times a week) throughout life helps to increase bone density and keeps bones strong and flexible to prevent osteoporosis. The best forms of exercise are weight-bearing exercises and resistance training. Weight-bearing exercises consist of activities where your legs and feet are supporting the weight of your body such as jogging, brisk walking, dancing, tennis and aerobics. Resistance training or weight-lifting uses your muscle strength, which in turn strengthens bones. Push-ups and lifting weights are examples of resistance training exercises. Exercise is not only beneficial to prevent osteoporosis; if you already have osteoporosis, regular exercise will help and in fact, should be an essential part of your life. However, choose exercises that are not high impact to reduce your risk of falls and fractures. Try swimming, walking, golf or Tai Chi.
  
• Diet: even though a balanced diet may not be enough to provide all the nutrients you need in the right amounts, it would be wise to follow a healthy diet as it does help. This involves eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, fish and foods rich in calcium. Excess salt should be avoided as it increases the amount of calcium that is eliminated from the body. Carbonated drinks, such as Coca Cola, which contain phosphate, have been shown to decrease levels of calcium in the bones. Excessive alcohol consumption decreases the amount of calcium that your body absorbs. Smoking has also been linked to an increased risk of osteoporosis.
  
• Weight: while being overweight is not generally healthy, being underweight is a risk for osteoporosis and bone fractures if you fall. Try to keep your BMI between 20 and 25.

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