Building strong bones is a great way to aid in osteoporosis prevention and dairy products are a great way to do that. Foods like cheese, yogurt, and milk all contain the calcium and vitamin D you need to build stronger bones.
Greek yogurt provides a significant amount of calcium, which is important for healthy bones. Calcium is the most common mineral in your body and most of it is in your skeleton. Getting enough calcium helps prevent osteoporosis by keeping your bones denser and less prone to breaking.
The results strongly support what other research has shown for years: yogurt is beneficial to bone (and overall) health due to its rich blend of Vitamin D, B Vitamins, calcium, protein, and probiotics. Other dairy-rich foods high in these bone-boosting nutrients include cottage cheese, kefir, and plain milk.
Eating yogurt likely leads to stronger bones and better physical fitness. A new study tracking more than 4,300 adults ages 60 and older found that people who ate yogurt daily experienced a 3 to 4 percent increase in bone mineral density and were significantly less likely to develop osteoporosis.
Greek Yogurt:
It's higher in protein and has fewer carbs compared to regular yogurt, but it's also lower in calcium – a key nutrient for bone health. It's a great choice, especially for women, because we need more protein as we age to help maintain muscle and bone.
Beverage options that are better choices include calcium and vitamin D-fortified juices, plain or chocolate milk, or flavored waters. While caffeine is widely believed to have some health benefits, it is also proven to deplete calcium from bones.
Eggs. Egg yolks are high in vitamin D, better known as the “sunshine” vitamin. This nutrient is essential to your bone health because it affects how much calcium you're able to absorb by stimulating the production of a calcium-binding protein.
Eat Calcium and Vitamin D Rich Foods
“By eating the right combination of calcium and vitamin D rich foods, we can boost our immune system and protect our bones,” Weatherford says. “Many foods are now fortified in calcium and vitamin D, making it easier to meet our daily recommended intake.”
The best choices include plant proteins, such as beans and nuts, as well as fish, skinless poultry and lean cuts of meat. Plant proteins are rich in vitamins, minerals and estrogenlike plant compounds that help preserve bone. Low-fat dairy products, including milk and plain yogurt, are another good source of protein.
Adding blueberries to breakfast cereal or snacks may help your children ward off osteoporosis later in life. That's the hypothesis of U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers who fed young, growing rodents a diet with 10 percent freeze dried blueberry powder.
According to Emma Laing, PhD, RDN, a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says the #1 best yogurt combination to prevent your bones from aging is yogurt with prunes. Dr. Laing says that yogurt paired with prunes can pack a bone-strengthening punch.
Osteoporosis is not reversible, but medication, a nutrient-dense diet, and weight bearing exercise can help prevent further bone loss and rebuild bones. Osteoporosis weaken bones so that they are more likely to break.
Weight-bearing and resistance exercises are the best for your bones. Weight-bearing exercises force you to work against gravity. They include walking, hiking, jogging, climbing stairs, playing tennis, and dancing. Resistance exercises – such as lifting weights – can also strengthen bones.
Include plenty of calcium in your diet.
Good sources of calcium include dairy products, almonds, broccoli, kale, canned salmon with bones, sardines and soy products, such as tofu. If you find it difficult to get enough calcium from your diet, ask your doctor about supplements.
Potassium-rich foods such as bananas, tomatoes and orange juice could help fight osteoporosis in post-menopausal women by helping to reduce the level of calcium losses, report researchers from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).
The largest study to date published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2008 found that elderly women who ate chocolate more than one time each day had thinner bones (less bone density) than women who ate chocolate less than once per week.
Weight-bearing aerobic activities
Examples include walking, dancing, low-impact aerobics, elliptical training machines, stair climbing and gardening. These types of exercise work directly on the bones in your legs, hips and lower spine to slow mineral loss.
Caffeine leaches calcium from bones, sapping their strength. "You lose about 6 milligrams of calcium for every 100 milligrams of caffeine ingested," Massey says. That's not as much of a loss as salt, but it's worrisome, nonetheless.