To Your Health
December, 2007 (Vol. 01, Issue 12) |
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A Bare-Bones Look at Bone Health
By Kelly Kwiatkowski
Contrary to what you might think, there is more to supporting healthy bones than drinking milk. While calcium is an essential nutrient for your bones, it is by no means the only nutrient they need. There are many other vitamins, minerals and lifestyle factors involved in building and maintaining strong bones. In this article, we'll review some of the more important ones.
Your bones are made up of living tissues that are continually breaking down and building up. This process, called remodeling, occurs throughout your lifetime. When you are young, bone buildup outpaces bone breakdown until you reach peak bone mass between 25-35 years of age, depending on your genes and gender. Once you reach peak bone mass, bone breakdown begins to surpass bone buildup. That is why it is essential to develop healthy eating and exercise habits during childhood and adolescence. Research suggests you can reduce your risk of bone disease by achieving a higher peak bone mass.
Your bones and teeth contain 99 percent of the calcium that circulates in your body, which is why you hear so much about the importance of calcium for healthy bones. Calcium combines with phosphorous in a process called mineralization, which provides structure and strength to your bones. Having too little calcium can result in poor bone mineralization, which weakens bones and can lead to bone diseases such as rickets or osteoporosis. Therefore, it is important to get the recommended amount of calcium in your diet. Dairy foods are considered one of the best sources of calcium to support healthy bones; however, there are other foods that are good sources of calcium, including several green vegetables, almonds, sesame seeds and tofu, to name a few. The added benefit of eating these foods is they contain many other nutrients that support your health.
Bone tissue is either compact (hard, dense) or spongy (softer, less dense), but both types contain the same components: mineralized calcium and collagen. Collagen is a fibrous protein that helps form the connective tissue in bone. Both zinc and vitamin C are important for the formation of collagen. Zinc also plays a role in bone mineralization, and researchers have linked low levels of zinc to osteoporosis in humans. So, it is important to incorporate foods rich in vitamin C and zinc into your diet. Fruits and vegetables are good sources of vitamin C, especially green vegetables and oranges, strawberries and papaya. Sources of zinc include meats, eggs and beans.
| Exercises That Help Increase Bone Density |
Weight-bearing exercises
| Resistance or strength-training exercises
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| running, jogging, walking, hiking, dancing, tennis, soccer | weight-lifting, exercises with resistance bands, water aerobics |
