Our bones are the support system of our body, literally. In order for us to function properly, we need to keep our bones healthy and strong. Bones are living issue that continuously break down and rebuild themselves little by little. Without this daily repair and bone reinforcement, we’d would be breaking our bones left and right. Our bones are made up of and contain nerves, blood vessels, and marrow, where blood cells are created.
Before the age of 20, a young adult or child is forming a lot of bone cells, whereas a woman near menopause age has a decreasing amount of density in her bones. Bones reach their peak bone mass before age 30, but after 30 the body begins to lose more bone than gain. Fifty percent of women and 25 percent of men over 50 years old will experience an osteoporosis-related fracture in their life.
If a person has good genetics, had/had a good diet, and built up their bone density as a teenager or in their younger twenties, he or she, most likely, will not have to worry too much about losing bone mass. However, for many others, their bodies lose bone fasters than it gains, in later years, resulting in the development of osteoporosis; bones will become brittle and will fracture easily.
Although there’s no surefire way of completely preventing osteoporosis (genetics and gender can get in the way), there are steps you can take to try ward it off while doing things that can increase bone mass – the earlier, the better. Here are some things you can do to increase your bone mass and strengthen your bones as much as possible:
- Make sure you’re consuming enough calcium in your diet. If your body doesn’t have enough calcium, the body will take the vitamin from the bones.
- Eat leafy greens. These greens contain calcium, vitamin K, and potassium that help build bone mass. Vitamin K helps the body make proteins for healthy bones. Potassium is believed to help neutralize acids that remove calcium from the body.
- Make sure you’re getting enough vitamin D. Ten to 15 minutes of sun exposure a few times a week will help boost your vitamin D levels, which in turn promotes bone health. The sun activates the conversion of an inactive form of vitamin D in the epithelial cells to an active form. You must also ingest vitamin D from food sources like eating eggs, fortified juices, shrimp, or tuna. Vitamin D works with calcium to help the body consume the calcium. Without adequate vitamin D calcium ingested cannot be properly absorbed. Kordonowy at Internal Medicine, Lipids, and Wellness tests his patients for vitamin D levels and find often that people lack sufficient D.
- Eat enough protein. Collagen, which is a type of protein, helps gives the bones their flexibility.
- Consuming magnesium, either in a vitamin or whole grain bread or pasta, helps maintain strong bones.
- Exercising helps makes your bones stronger. By putting weight on the bone, more bone material is created to strengthen it; however, if a person already has osteoporosis, lifting heavy or vigorous exercise could trigger a facture. A sedentary lifestyle can easily lead to osteoporosis. Running, walking, skiing, stair climbing, resistance training, and jumping rope are great ways to strengthen bones.
- Bone-building medications do exist. Ask your doctor about them.
- Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. When a person consumes too much caffeine, the body has a hard time absorbing calcium. Too much alcohol consumption can cause bone loss because it keeps the vitamin D from helping the calcium absorb in the body.
- Quit smoking. Smoking keeps the body from properly absorbing calcium.
Strong bones are essential to a healthy life. You want to be able to get around, on your own, for as long as you can. Once a person develops osteoporosis, it’s really hard to reverse, so it’s best to try and prevent it as much as you can. For people who take the blood thinner warfarin/Coumadin, you should discuss any diet changes with a doctor due to food and drug interactions.
To learn more about osteoporosis, you can refer to an article I, Dr. Kordonowy, wrote a few years back, here, on the topic.
If you’re worried about developing osteoporosis, contact Dr. Kordonowy at Internal Medicine, Lipids, and Wellness in Fort Myers at 239-362-2005, Ext. 200.
