By the time many people think seriously about bone health, age-related bone loss is probably already happening. The foods and drinks you consume throughout life have a substantial impact on your future bone health — so it’s never too early to optimize your diet to support your skeleton.
Building and maintaining strong bones helps provide structural support for the body and reduces the risk of osteoporosis and fractures as you age, said Heidi Prather, attending physician and professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Hospital for Special Surgery/Weill Cornell Medicine.
Early in life, the body makes new bone more quickly than it breaks down old bone, so bone mass is continuously increasing. Most people hit their peak bone mass by age 25 or 30. After that, bone breakdown outpaces new growth, and bone density naturally decreases with time.
Lourdes Castro, a registered dietitian and director of the NYU Food Lab, suggested thinking of your bones like a retirement account. When you’re young, you can build up your bone mass with lifestyle choices like exercise and a nutritious diet. Later on, the focus shifts toward maintaining what you’ve built.
“You aren’t really going to be able to build it past 30, usually, but you can preserve what’s there and you can protect it,” Castro said.
Here’s how your diet can help you do that.
Important nutrients for bone health
A balanced diet is key to building and maintaining strong bones, and it’s not all that complicated. For example, recent research findings show that a Mediterranean-style diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean proteins and healthy fats such as olive oil — is linked with a lower risk of fractures and possibly, a lower risk of osteoporosis.
Beyond eating a balanced diet, some individual nutrients are particularly important for bone health.
Calcium
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body, and most of it is stored in your bones and teeth. It “helps keep our bones sturdy and healthy,” Prather said.
Adequate calcium intake is important for building and maintaining bone mass, but many adults don’t get enough. “If you don’t take in enough calcium, your body will use the calcium in your bones for its other needs,” like maintaining a normal heartbeat and contracting muscles, Castro said.
Most adults should aim for 1,000 milligrams of calcium per day. Some people need a bit more. Women between the ages of 51 and 70 and all adults who are older than 70 should consume 1,200 milligrams per day.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D doesn’t get as much attention as calcium, but it plays a key role in bone health, helping your body absorb calcium in the gut. “You could consume all the calcium in the world that you want, and unless vitamin D is taken alongside with it, it’s not going to do you any good,” Castro said.
Vitamin D also supports bone growth, strengthening and remodeling, and helps protect against osteoporosis.
Adults under the age of 70 need around 600 international units (IU) of vitamin D each day, and those older than 70 need 800 IU. Vitamin D-rich foods like fatty fish, egg yolks and fortified milk and orange juice can help you meet some of your needs, as can sun exposure. Your doctor may also recommend a vitamin D supplement if your levels are low.
Protein
Protein helps build and maintain bones and muscles. You’ll want to consume about 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day. This is extremely important for older adults, because an inadequate amount of dietary protein is associated with muscle weakness and age-related muscle loss called sarcopenia, “which both can increase the risk of falling and fracturing bones,” said Joan Salge Blake, a registered dietitian and clinical professor of nutrition at Boston University.
Foods to eat for bone health
Yogurt
Research has linked fermented dairy products such as yogurt with a lower risk of fracture. One 1/2-cup serving of plain, nonfat Greek yogurt has about 173 milligrams of calcium and 16 grams of protein. Some yogurt is also fortified with vitamin D.
“When you look at the nutrition facts panel, you may see anywhere from 10 to 25 percent of the daily value of vitamin D per serving,” said registered dietitian Kelly Jones. “Others may not be fortified, in which case you may see 0 percent daily value.”
On a food’s nutrition facts label, the percent daily value lets you know how much each nutrient in one serving contributes toward the recommended daily diet for an average adult who is eating 2,000 calories per day. It’s meant to be a quick reference point: 5 percent daily value or less of a nutrient per serving is considered low, while 20 percent or more is considered high.
For an easy breakfast, whip up a green smoothie with yogurt, pear and ginger or a matcha yogurt smoothie. In search of a nutritious dessert? Pull together some frozen yogurt bark with peaches and cherries.
Salmon
“Salmon is a good source of not only calcium, but vitamin D and protein,” Blake said. “That’s the trifecta for bone health.” A 4-ounce serving of wild sockeye salmon contains 10 milligrams of calcium, 500 IU of vitamin D (more than 100 percent of your daily needs), and 24 grams of protein.
As an added bonus, salmon has been linked with better heart, brain and eye health. Canned salmon is also an easy choice that doesn’t require much prep work “and can be a fabulous protein source at lunch,” Blake said.
Try our recipe for crispy salmon and bulgur salador these broiled salmon fillets that come together in just 5 minutes. If you prefer canned salmon, try this quick lentil salmon salad or pasta salad with lemon and dill.
Soy
“Soy products, especially calcium-fortified soy milk and tofu, are great alternatives for, or complements to, dairy,” Jones said. In a cup of fortified soy milk, you’ll get 200 to 400 grams of calcium, varied amounts of vitamin D and about 7 to 9 grams of protein (depending on the brand).
Soy milk works well in many scenarios where you would otherwise use another type of milk. Try it in your coffee, overnight oats, smoothies, cereal, soups or French toast.
Edamame — with 98 grams of calcium and 19 grams of protein per cup — is another good option, as is tofu, which is also high in protein and often contains added calcium.
Toss some edamame into your soups and salads for an added nutrient boost. Have some tofu on hand? Grill it, top a rice bowl with air fryer orange tofu or pair some maple mustard tofu with mashed potatoes.
Broccoli
“A cup of cooked broccoli will serve up about 60 milligrams of calcium,” Blake said. It also contains vitamin K, which supports blood clotting and also helps strengthen bones and may protect against osteoporosis.
“Frozen broccoli, which is already cleaned and prepped, is a wonderful way to easily add broccoli to a meal and in soups,” Blake said.
For a flavorful dinner, pull together some fried rice with broccoli and mustard greens. And you can never go wrong with a broccoli quiche.
Kale
“A cup of cooked kale will provide 177 milligrams of calcium, which is over 10 percent of the daily value recommended for this mineral,” Blake said.
Leafy green vegetables like kale are also a good source of vitamin K. Some of them — like spinach and Swiss chard — are high in oxalates, a type of plant compound that binds with calcium in the gut and prevents absorption, Castro said. However, other greens like kale and bok choy are low in oxalates, “so you have to be cognizant of which ones are going to be better to consume,” Castro added.
Kale pesto is a great option to have on hand for everything from grain bowls to toasts to easy pasta dishes.
Incorporating these foods, and others that are rich in bone-supporting nutrients, into your regular rotation is one of the best things you can do for your body as you age.
“What’s interesting about our bone is that we’re constantly building it and then breaking it down and building it and breaking it down — and what keeps it going is that nutrition,” Castro said.
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