Key Takeaways:
- It is important to pay attention to your bone health and protect your bone density.
- You must incorporate calcium, certain vitamins in your diet or in supplement form in your life along with exercise to maintain your bone health.
- You should seek a health care professional if you are at risk of developing a disorder and get your bone density checked.
Bones provide a variety of functions in the body, including anchoring muscles, protecting organs, and creating structure. While it’s crucial to develop strong and healthy bones during infancy and adolescence, there are things you can do as an adult to maintain bone health.
How porous your bones are is determined by their density. Imagine it as a sponge with several tiny holes; the more room there is within the bone, the less dense it is. As we age, bone density becomes increasingly essential because weaker bones are more prone to shatter from common injuries like tripping and falling over a curb. Doctors use the phrase “bone mass” to describe a person’s bone density. Low bone mass and high bone mass both result in low bone density. Every person is born with a predefined amount of bone mass that they will be able to develop, which is mostly dictated by their genetic makeup. But not everyone achieves their maximum bone mass potential. You may not reach your genetically programmed peak bone mass because you didn’t consume enough milk as a youngster, didn’t exercise enough, or have a condition like Crohn’s disease, among other causes. While you won’t be able to significantly increase your bone mass as you age, you can still contribute to its protection.
Why is bone health important?
- New bone is always being formed and old bone is constantly being broken down in your bones.
- Your bone mass increases when you’re young because your body produces new bone more quickly than it degrades existing bone.
- Around age 30, the majority of people reach their peak bone mass. Following that, you continue to lose slightly more bone mass than you gain as a result of bone remodelling.
- How much bone mass you have by the time you are 30 and how quickly you lose it afterward determine how likely you are to develop osteoporosis, a disorder that makes bones weak and brittle.
- You have more bone “in the bank” and are less prone to develop osteoporosis as you age if your peak bone mass is larger.
How does one maintain bone density?
- Once you reach your 30s, there may not be much you can do to increase your bone mass, but there are some techniques to maintain the bone mass you already have.
- Nutrition comes first in this list. There is no quick fix. You want to make sure you have a colourful diet with a lot of variety and that you have a protein source at most meals.
- When it comes to supplements, calcium can be helpful, but only if your diet isn’t providing enough of it currently. With calcium, you need enough, but not too much.
- If you typically have a yoghurt for lunch, a coffee for breakfast, and cheese over pasta for dinner, you probably don’t need any more. But if you completely avoid dairy, you probably do. It is in fact a supplement, not a cure.
- Vitamin D is crucial for bone health. If you live in the northeast, or really anywhere at northern latitudes, you ought to be taking vitamin D in some form.
- As we age, our skin becomes less capable of converting sunshine into the vitamin D we require.
- There are illnesses that promote a faster metabolism of vitamin D, and many of the medications we take can also deplete our stores of vitamin D. Most individuals demand some sort of vitamin D supplement.
- But there are some supplements you should stay away from. Strontium, which is frequently marketed as a bone-building remedy, is one of those that has recently gained in popularity. It is untrue.
- It makes your bones appear brighter and denser on a bone density scan, but it has no effect on how strong or dense your bones are in reality.
What does this mean for you?
It’s simpler than you might imagine to safeguard your bone health. Recognise the effects that nutrition, exercise, and other lifestyle choices can have on your bone mass. Consult your doctor if you have any concerns about your bone health or your osteoporosis risk factors, such as a recent bone fracture. A bone density test might be suggested by him or her. Your doctor will use the results to assess your bone density and calculate your bone loss rate. Your doctor can determine whether you might be a candidate for medication to help decrease bone loss by taking into account this information and your risk factors.
