The top 5 tips for building strong, healthy bones

1) Exercise regularly, throughout your whole life

When you do any kind of physical activity that puts some stress on your bones, cells within the bone sense this stress and respond by making the bone stronger and denser. Such weight-bearing exercise (including walking, dancing, jogging, jumping rope, weight-lifting, stair-climbing and racquet sports) causes the bones to retain and possibly even gain density throughout life.

You need a variety of exercises or activities that put stress on different parts of the body, to keep all your bones healthy.

Exercise also increases muscle strength and coordination, helping to maintain balance and avoid falls, which are the major cause of bone fractures.

It’s never too early or too late to start your bone-strengthening exercise regime: a study of pre-pubertal children found that those who took part in jumping exercise in school PE for 7 months, had improvements in their bone health that persisted for up to 8 years after the exercise intervention (1).

At the other end of life, in a study of nearly 10 000 women aged 65 and older, those who had the highest levels of leisure time and sport activity had a 36% lower risk of hip fracture (2).

[Also see my article Exercise is the best medicine for preventing falls and broken bones.]

2) Get adequate vitamin D, preferably from sunlight exposure

The ‘sunshine vitamin’ reduces fracture risk by enhancing calcium absorption from the intestines, increasing muscle strength and decreasing the risk of falls (3, 4).

I encourage my clients to ‘stock up’ on vitamin D in summer by getting direct sunlight on as much skin as they can comfortably bear, for 10-20 minutes (depending on skin colour), 3-4 times per week, between 10 am and 2 pm (or 11 am-3 pm during daylight saving). Wear a hat to protect your facial skin from the aging effects of UV radiation from sunlight, and cover up or get out of the sun as soon as you’ve had your ‘minimal erythemal dose’ of sunlight – or enough to turn your skin very slightly pink.

On the other hand, most people don’t benefit from taking vitamin D supplements.

Among older adults who are still living in the community (e.g. their own homes, or with their children), taking vitamin D supplements does not reduce the risk of fracture, but does increase the risk of kidney stones and kidney damage (5).

Only elderly individuals in institutional settings (such as nursing homes)  have a reduced risk of hip fractures if they take vitamin D supplements (6).

And taking large monthly doses is actually counter-productive: a study of 200 men and women aged over 70 who had had a previous fall (7), found that those given 60 000 international units (IU) of vitamin D once per month had a 70% higher risk of falling than those given 24 000 IU once per month (which corresponds to the currently recommended daily dose of 800 IU).

3) Obtain adequate vitamin K from your diet

Vitamin K, which is found mainly in green, leafy vegetables, contributes significantly to calcium regulation and bone formation. Vitamin K positively affects calcium balance in the body, and is necessary for the formation of osteocalcin, a key protein involved in bone mineralisation.

In human intervention studies, raising vitamin K intake increases bone mineral density in osteoporotic people and reduces fracture rates. Vitamin K works synergistically with vitamin D to promote bone health (8).

The Nurses’ Health Study found that women who ate a serving of lettuce or other green, leafy vegetable every day had only half the risk of hip fracture of women who ate only serving a week (9).

4) Minimise your alcohol and caffeine consumption

A study of over 84 000 US women aged between 34 and 59, and followed up for 6 years, found that those who consumed the most caffeine had nearly a nearly 200% higher risk of suffering a hip fracture.

Women consuming 25 g or more of alcohol per day (equivalent to 2.5 standard drinks – but as everyone knows, a standard drink is much smaller than the drink most people pour themselves!) had a 133% greater risk of hip fracture and 38% higher chance of wrist fracture than non-drinkers (10).

5) Avoid excess calcium – and get your calcium from plant sources

As I’ve discussed in another article, excess calcium intake actually increases the risk of bone fracture.

The populations of countries such as India, Japan, and Peru have an average daily calcium intake as low as 300 milligrams per day (less than a third of the Australian RDI of 1000 mg per day for women aged 19-50), yet have a low incidence of bone fractures (11).

Getting your calcium from plants such as lettuce, parsley and kale will ensure you’re maximising your intake of other nutrients that preserve and build bone health and strength, such as vitamin K, magnesium, potassium, silicon, carotenoids and vitamin C (12, 13, 14, 15).

Have you been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia? Are you at high risk of fracture due to family history or personal factors? Would you like expert guidance in constructing and adopting the ultimate fracture prevention diet and exercise program?

Apply for a Roadmap to Optimal Health Consultation to discover how I can help you achieve your health goals.