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Milk and Exercise Can Help Prevent Osteoporosis

To keep your bones strong and healthy, it's important to get enough calcium throughout your life. Exercise, too, keeps your bones stronger by preventing bone loss.

High-calcium foods -- low-fat milk, cheese, tofu, and dark green vegetables such as kale, spinach, collard greens, and broccoli -- are major assets in warding off bone-weakening osteoporosis. Vitamin D helps your body absorb calcium. Most people can get enough vitamin D if they spend several minutes outdoors each day, because the sun helps your body produce vitamin D. Vitamin D is also found in eggs, fatty fish, and fortified cereal and milk. Experts recommend getting at least 400 IU each day for those under in their 50s and 60s and at least 600 IU for those over 70. Talk to your doctor if you think you may need a supplement.

Good activities that help make bones and muscles stronger include walking, jogging, playing tennis and dancing. These are all examples of weight-bearing exercise, which forces you to work against gravity. But be sure to talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program, especially if you haven't been active for a while.

Bone constantly dissolves and rebuilds as it swaps minerals such as calcium with other part of the body. That means strong bones require calcium (and phosphorus to help you absorb it).

Increasing your calcium intake reduces bone "remodeling" and slows bone loss. Osteoporosis damage usually surfaces after age 60, but by age 30 our bone mass reaches its peak and slowly begins to decline. Postmenopausal women are at greater risk for fractures because decreasing estrogen production can cause severe bone-mass loss.

Experts say most of us can get enough calcium from our diet, but many of us don't. Three cups of low-fat milk or calcium-fortified juice and a serving of dark, leafy vegetables such as spinach each day would put you well on your way.

Besides getting enough calcium, vitamin D, and exercise, other important ways to keep your bones healthy include not smoking and limiting your alcohol consumption.

Calcium by the numbers

The following recommendations are from the National Institute of Health. Recommended daily intake (in milligrams):
Infants 0 to 6 months - 210
Infants 7 to 12 months - 270
Children 1 to 3 years - 500
Children 4 to 8 - 800
Adolescents 9 to 18 - 1,300
Adults 19 to 50 - 1,000
Adults 51 and older - 1,200