Prevent Osteoporosis

Three factors essential for keeping your bones healthy throughout your life are:

• Adequate amounts of calcium
• Adequate amounts of vitamin D
• Regular exercise

Calcium
The amount of calcium you need to stay healthy changes over your lifetime. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends the following amounts of daily calcium from food and supplements:

• Up to 1 year old — 210 to 270 milligrams (mg)
• Age 1 to 3 years — 500 mg
• Age 4 to 8 years — 800 mg
• Age 9 to 18 years — 1,300 mg
• Age 19 to 50 years — 1,000 mg
• Age 51 and older — 1,200 mg

Dairy products are one, but by no means the only, source of calcium. Almonds, broccoli, spinach, cooked kale, canned salmon with the bones, sardines and soy products, such as tofu, also are rich in calcium.

If you find it difficult to get enough calcium from your diet, consider taking calcium supplements. The IOM recommends taking no more than 2,500 mg of calcium daily.

Vitamin D
Getting enough vitamin D is just as important to your bone health as getting adequate amounts of calcium. Scientists don't yet know the optimal daily dose of vitamin D, but it's safe for anyone older than 1 year to take up to 2,000 international units (IU) a day.

Experts generally recommend that adults get between 400 and 1,000 IUs daily.

Although many people get adequate amounts of vitamin D from sunlight, this may not be a good source if you live in high latitudes, if you're housebound, or if you regularly use sunscreen or you avoid the sun entirely because of the risk of skin cancer. Although vitamin D is present in oily fish, such as tuna and sardines, and in egg yolks, you probably don't eat these on a daily basis. Vitamin D supplements or calcium supplements with added vitamin D are a good alternative.

Exercise
Exercise can help you build strong bones and slow bone loss. Exercise will benefit your bones no matter when you start, but you'll gain the most benefits if you start exercising regularly when you're young and continue to exercise throughout your life. Combine strength training exercises with weight-bearing exercises. Strength training helps strengthen muscles and bones in your arms and upper spine, and weight-bearing exercises — such as walking, jogging, running, stair climbing, skipping rope, skiing and impact-producing sports — mainly affect the bones in your legs, hips and lower spine. Swimming, cycling and exercising on machines such as elliptical trainers can provide a good cardiovascular workout, but because such exercises are low impact, they're not as helpful for improving bone health as weight-bearing exercises are.

Other tips for prevention
These measures also may help you prevent bone loss:

• Don't smoke. Smoking increases bone loss, perhaps by decreasing the amount of estrogen a woman's body makes and by reducing the absorption of calcium in your intestine.
• Avoid excessive alcohol. Consuming more than two alcoholic drinks a day may decrease bone formation and reduce your body's ability to absorb calcium.