There's More Than Milk: Nutrition for Stronger Bones

What Can I Do to Prevent My Bones From Weakening?

What Affects Bone Mass?

Bone mass is largely influenced by non-modifiable risk factors such as age, sex, race, and genes. In other words, you cannot control these influencers that place you at risk for developing osteoporosis.  However, you can maintain your bone mass through diet and exercise. For now we will discuss nutrition, and look forward to next week's post about exercise. 

The Nutrients You Need

Building or maintaining stronger bones requires three key nutrients: calcium, vitamin D, and protein. How much, you might ask? Most adults should get between 600 and 800 international units of vitamin D every day, and between 1,000 to 1,300 milligrams of calcium daily. “It's pretty easy to figure out how much calcium you're getting,” says Deborah Sellmeyer, MD. “Just from eating random, non-calcium-rich foods, your diet contains about 250 mg of calcium daily. To get up to the 1,000 milligrams you need, add more calcium-rich foods.” 

Calcium

The most obvious choices include: milk, yogurt, and cheese. If these options do not work for you however, there are non-dairy options to consider like the following:

• Fortified juices
• Fortified cereal and oatmeal
• Dark leafy greens like broccoli
• Beans 
• Salmon 
• Almonds

                                                       

The picture above includes 12 food and drink choices that you can add to your diet to increase your calcium intake. 

Vitamin D

Our bodies synthesize vitamin D in response to sunlight. When sunlight is not available however, there are foods that can provide this vital nutrient. 

• Eggs
• Fortified cereals
• Salmon and tuna
• Fortified dairy products
• Fortified orange juice

                                                                            This picture illustrates sources of the nutrient, Vitamin D. 

Protein

The third and final component of strong bones is protein. Some examples of protein sources are pictured below. 

Good sources of protein, as illustrated in the picture above include: legumes, nuts, chicken, eggs, fish, chickpeas, beef, and sunflower seeds. 

What about Exercise? 

Up next, we will tackle exercise. But first, let's focus on providing our body with these key nutrients. Until next week's blog post, happy bone maintenance! 

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If you have any questions or concerns about the content of this post, please ask in a comment below. Additionally, if you have any nutrient-rich foods you would like to share or a topic you would like for me to address in the upcoming exercise post, feel free to leave a comment. 

Don't Be Afraid to Ask: Communicating with Your Doctor

Questions Lead to Answers

Who Should I Ask?

Whether you have recently been diagnosed, are practicing day-to-day self-management, or have a family member who is struggling with osteoporosis, it is vital that you learn about the condition. Sure, you can do your own research, but whom better to ask than your doctor?

This doctor is taking the time to record his patient's dialogue to reference at future appointments for individual feedback and progress tracking. This is made possible through open communication with one's doctor.

Why Ask Your Doctor?

Your doctor can provide you with individualized, specific, and credible answers. For answers however, one must first ask questions. For this blog post, we will discuss questions you may ask your health care provider in order to learn more about osteoporosis and most importantly, to maintain your quality of life while living with the condition.

1. What exercises are safe for me? How often should I perform these exercises?

2. Should I be taking Vitamin D, K, or Calcium supplements?

3. What treatments should I consider?

4. Why did I develop osteoporosis?

5. What can I do to improve my balance?

6. How can I prevent my osteoporosis from worsening?

7. How can I prevent bone fractures?

8. How frequently should I have a bone density test?

9. What does my bone density test indicate?

10. How does osteoporosis progress?

If you would like to read additional questions you may want to ask your doctor, I encourage you to visit the National Osteoporosis Foundation website: http://nof.org/faq

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If you have any questions or concerns about the content of this post, please comment below. Additionally, if you've had a meaningful conversation with your doctor or found a method to effectively communicate with a superior figure, please do share. 

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Let's Talk Porous Bones: Osteoporosis 101

What is Osteoporosis? 

In the illustration above, you can see the difference between a healthy bone (left) and a bone affected by osteoporosis (right). Evidently, the osteoporosis bone is porous and fragile, hence the term osteoporosis. 

Osteoporosis is Common

About 18 million Americans currently suffer from osteoporosis. However, many more people suffer from low bone density that will likely develop into osteoporosis; some studies suggest that nearly 54 million Americans are at risk for developing osteoporosis. To conceptualize the significance of this number consider: one in two women and one in four men age 50 and older, are predicted to suffer a broken bone due to osteoporosis. 

Are You at Risk for Developing Osteoporosis? 

Like the skin, our bones continuously shed and regenerate to renew bone composition. This process occurs throughout one's life, and the ability to generate new bone grows less efficient as one ages, leading to osteoporosis. 

Some factors that place you at risk for developing osteoporosis include:

• Avoiding weight bearing activity (thought to be the most influential determinant)
• Smoking
• Inadequate calcium intake
• Lack of sunlight exposure (vitamin D deficiency)
• Excessive alcohol consumption

Note: I intentionally listed modifiable risk factors that with behavior change, are actually protective factors and therefore can lower one's risk for developing osteoporosis. 

Signs and Symptoms of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis has minimal signs visible to the naked eye. Typically, osteoporosis is diagnosed after one suffers a fall leading to a bone fracture. Once osteoporosis reaches its later stages however, visible signs and symptoms may appear. These can include:

• Back pain, caused by a fractured spine
• Decrease in height
• Stooped posture (as illustrated in the pictures below)

The w  
The woman pictured above has a stooped posture and curved spine as a result of bone fracture. 

Effects and Outcomes of Osteoporosis 

The pain associated with bone loss and potentially bone fractures can decrease an individual's quality of life and his or her level of happiness, which could lead to depression. Osteoporotic bone fractures can lead to long-term chronic pain and disability. Specifically, hip fractures can cause reduced mobility and lead to dependence on others. 

          Alice, who suffers from osteoporosis, discusses how she copes with the effects of osteoporosis.

On another note, osteoporosis can have a large financial impact considering medical care costs, loss of income, and cost of dependent care.

As the chart above illustrates, osteoporosis causes disabling conditions that place a severe burden on the sufferer and his or her family.

Feedback

If you have any questions about the content included in the post or topics you would like for me to discuss in the future, please leave a comment below. Additionally, please feel free to include anything you've learned about osteoporosis during your time with the condition, or any advice you have on coping with it. 

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