Healthytalk8 Maintaining bone health is essential, especially for those who suffer from bone health issues, or after 30 age bone density starts dropping.
Bone protects our brain, heart, and other body organs from injury, and it contains minerals such as calcium and phosphorous, that keep bone strong.
After 30 almost all people begin to lose bone density, and over the age of 50, Osteoarthritis is most common in adults.
So make sure, to eat enough protein, nutrition, calcium, plenty of exercise, etc which keep your bones healthy.
If you consume any bone-related supplement or any other thing consult the doctor first, to avoid any side effects of it.
Maintain Bone Health
Contents
Here are some ways that are wonderful to maintain bone health such as:
Exercises
This is one of the best ways to promote or maintain bone health.
Evidence suggests that the most helpful physical activity regimens for bone health are strength-training or resistance-training activities (1).
Completely true, that lack of exercise, can cause bone loss, and osteoporosis, which also leads to back pain, obesity, joint pain, etc.
Research reveals that physical activities at a young age, as seen in female athletes shown beneficial effect on bone health due to ageing (2).
- Weight-bearing exercises are any activity in which your feet and legs carry your weight like – walking, hiking, climbing, dancing, etc.
- Resistance exercises such as lifting weights, squats, lunges, etc,
Swimming and bicycling can help in building strong muscles and are also good for heart health.
Exercise is beneficial in many ways in older people such as – improving muscle mass, balance, mental health, and bone strength.
As a result, it may decrease the risk of fractures. In older people, it offers large benefits by reducing fall risk (3).
Physical activity for adults such as:
- Walking
- Climbing
- Jogging
- Weight listing but not too much
- Stationary cycling or cycling
- Yoga
- Stretching exercises
Studies in children who have type I diabetes have shown that weight-bearing and high-activity exercises can raise bone growth during development (4).
Another study showed that both old men and women who did weight-bearing exercise had increased BMD, bone strength, and bone size (5).
As well, the swelling of the bones also decreased (6) (7).
So daily 60 minutes, of walking, running, other physical exercises best for all groups of people, which prevents the bone-related issues.
Check More – Resistance Exercise And Endurance Exercise
Consumed-Rich Calcium Foods
Bone is made up of fiber that needs calcium to stay strong and after age, especially in women calcium absorption is reduced.
Calcium is one of the major compounds that are very essential for keeping our bones dense, strong, and healthy.
Research says that calcium 1,300 mg/day should be given to children and teenagers ages 9–18, (a period where bones grow rapidly) (8).
Vegetables also contain calcium, but the amount of calcium absorbed from these sources changes, like broccoli and kale, which is well absorbed (9).
Here are rich calcium foods which include:
- Green vegetables like – broccoli, cabbage and okra, but not spinach.
- Dairy products like milk, cheese, paneer, yogurt, if you are lactose, so consume lactose-free products like Swiss and Parmesan cheese.
- Fortified cereal or orange juice
- Soy products, like soya beans, drinks, etc
- Nuts
After menopause women are more prone to injury due to low bone density, so make sure to consume a rich calcium diet.
However, more calcium in the body leads to stomach upset, vomiting, constipation, headache, etc.
Excess calcium in the blood can leak out of your bones and weaken them, which can lead to bone and muscle weakness.
Walking
It is also a Weight-bearing activity that builds and maintains strong bones and is an excellent exercise.
Walking can provide more joint mobility prevent the loss of bone density and even decrease the risk of fractures.
Arthritis org recommends that walking at least daily 30 minutes can reduce pain, stiffness, muscle soreness, and inflammation in the joints (10).
University of Kansas has revealed low low-impact aerobic exercises like walking prevent dementia and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Check more – Can Walking Relieve Back Pain? – Research-Backed
Yoga
Yoga comes with a huge range of benefits such as – improved balance, posture, flexibility, and many more.
Even a small study in 2009 found that properly or consistently doing yoga can promote bone density or health.
Here are a few weight-bearing asanas to prevent osteoporosis such as:
- Ekpasasan (one-leg pose)
- Natrajasana (dancing pose)
- Adhomukhshwanasan (downward-facing dog)
Hand-pressed asana – In this lie down on your stomach raise your upper body and take your upper body with your arms straight.
Both the toes are bent inwards, stay in this position like a plank for a few minutes, and come back.
These asanas would be anti-gravity asanas which include:
- Viparita Karani (leg up the wall pose)
- Sarvangasana
- Skipping the rope (do at least 100 round of it)
Another small 2006 study showed that yoga has a positive effect on BMD in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.
Check out – Yoga For Healthy Heart | Food To Eat And Avoid.
Take enough Vitamin D3 and K
Vitamin D is the same as important as calcium, which helps in calcium absorption, and people over 50 age need it more.
The current recommended intake of vitamin D is 250 mg. However, most people need 200 IU per day.
But these recommendations are raised by age, like 400 IU per day in those aged 50–70, and 600 IU per day over the age of 70.
The best source of vitamin D, or D3 are:
Sunlight is one of the best sources of vitamin D or D3, made in the skin by exposure to sunlight.
Avoid excessive sunlight, it can lead to sunburn, which enhances the risk of skin cancer such as melanoma and changes skin colour.
Dietary products: are good dietary sources of vitamin D (salmon fish, tuna, egg yolks, mushroom, orange juice, and almond milk)
Unfortunately, vitamin D deficiency affects approximately 1 billion people worldwide (11).
Vitamin K is vital for blood clots and promotes bone health, thus, preventing excessive bleeding, helping wounds to heal.
Studies reveal that vitamin K can not only enhance bone density in osteoporotic people but can also reduce fracture rates (12).
Green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, collards, mustard greens. fish, liver, eggs, cereals, kiwi, avocado, prunes, etc are the best sources of vitamin K.
A small study in fit young women found that MK-7 supplements increased blood level of vitamin K2 more than MK-4 (13).
Take Collagen, Magnesium, and Zinc foods
Studies showed that collagen peptides increased bone health, also improved bone metabolism and fragility (14) (15) (16).
A study showed that collagen peptides increased (BMD) in both the lumbar spine and femoral neck of postmenopause women (17).
NOTE: Collagen-rich food for bone is – chicken, citrus fruit, berries, garlic, egg white, tea, beans, etc.
A study conducted over 73k women revealed that those magnesium intake was 400 mg per/day had 2-3% higher bone density, compared to non-consumers.
NOTE: Rich food such as – pumping seeds, almonds, peanuts, chocolate, banana, etc.
Magnesium intake might be an effective and low-cost preventive measure against osteoporosis in individuals (19).
Zinc is required for "skeletal growth and bone homeostasis", as well as being able to promote bone regeneration (20).
Apart from this, zinc encourages the formation of bone-building cells and prevents minimizes the risk of fracture after falling.
NOTE: Zinc-rich food such as – meat, chickpeas, lentils and beans, seeds, nuts, eggs, whole grains, etc.
Maintain Healthy Weight
Obesity affects bone density because being overweight put more pressure on leg bones, which enhances the risk of joint pain.
However, being underweight can also contribute to reduced bone density and bone loss (21) (22).
Being overweight creates difficulty in everyday performance, over time can lead to bone issues.
Being overweight can affect our overall health such as:
- lead to heart attack
- High blood pressure
- Reduce quality of life
- More chance to type II diabetes
- Gallbladder disease
- Low libido
So make sure, to maintain a healthy weight, and lose excess weight with exercise, which is great for both physical and mental health.
Check Out – Obesity dozens of Effect On The Body, And Reasons
What To Avoid?
- Avoid alcohol, and smoking
- High salts food
- Avoid very-low-calorie diets
- Caffeine
- Avoid too much legumes and beans
- Fried, junk, fast food which contain lots of sugar, salt, oil, etc
Down Line
To maintain bone health you have to consume vitamin C, D rich foods (sunlight and milk are the best source of it).
Exercise is one of the best way to maintain bone health.
If you notice any abnormal sound from knee joint or any other joints then talk to the doctor it may be some other issue.
