What if you could reduce your osteoporosis risk as easily as eating three serves of dairy a day?
Take a look at my top 3 tips for achieveing a diet that will improve your long-term bone health.
What if you could reduce your osteoporosis risk as easily as eating three serves of dairy a day?
Take a look at my top 3 tips for achieveing a diet that will improve your long-term bone health.
Half of all Australian women and one third of Australian men over the age of sixty will have a fracture caused by osteoporosis. These fractures are so debilitating that one fifth of people suffering a hip fracture will die within twelve months, and one quarter will require full-time nursing care. These are scary figures, but worse still is the fact that although 52 per cent of Australians are aware that they should be consuming three serves of low fat dairy foods each day to help protect against osteoporosis, only 10 per cent are actually meeting these requirements.
You can defy these statistics by following a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D and by being active. Try some of these suggestions below.
1. A calcium-rich diet
Calcium is the primary component of our bones – the building block. It’s the calcium that gives our bones their strength. When you don’t consume enough calcium, your body will steal calcium from the bones to use for other functions, weakening your reserves. Although some other foods contain calcium (such as almonds, sardines and broccoli), low fat dairy products are the richest source (with approximately 300mg per serve), and three serves each day will help you meet your requirements to keep your bones strong.
Get your 3 serves of dairy each day, by:
• Drinking a glass of skim milk
• Serving up some berries and yoghurt for dessert
• Enjoying Bircher muesli made with low fat yoghurt as a weekend brekkie treat
• Adding low fat natural yoghurt to baked potatoes
• Making a homemade tzatziki dip for vegetable crudités.
2. The essential vitamin D
The primary role of vitamin D is to help the body absorb calcium from the food you eat. Although you can get some vitamin D from foods such as fish and eggs, the best source of vitamin D is sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency is high in Australia, especially among groups who don’t see much sun, such as those who wear veils, the elderly living in residential care and people who work long hours and don’t get outside much.3 To meet your vitamin D requirements, make sure that you go for a walk outside every day, aiming for 10 minutes of direct sunlight in summer or 30 minutes in winter, outside peak U.V times.
3. Bone strengthening tricks
One of the other factors causing the incidence of osteoporosis to increase is our consumption of foods that reduce calcium absorption. Caffeine consumption (found in tea, coffee and cola) increases the risk of osteoporosis, so it’s recommended that you limit your caffeine intake to less than 400mg per day (the equivalent of three to four cups of coffee). 4
Studies also show that having more than two standard drinks of alcohol per day increases your risk of osteoporosis, so here’s yet another reason to keep alcohol to a minimum. Furthermore, rapid weight loss can also increase your risk of osteoporosis, so if you’re losing weight quickly due to dieting or illness, be sure to ask your dietitian about ways to make certain you can maintain optimal bone strength.
With the right lifestyle and nutrition habits, osteoporosis is preventable. By choosing bone-building foods every day, you’ll go a long way in protecting your bones.