Subscribe Text

Join the Swap & Drop diet revolution today and find out how you could also win 1 of 29 prizes totaling over $4,000.00.

Home > Eat Well > Nutrition > Foods that fight osteoporosis

Foods that fight osteoporosis

Find out which foods will help build strong bones—and which foods are best to avoid

Previous Slide 1 of 9 Next

Your food prescription

A mug of milk and strong bones go hand in hand. But dairy products aren't the skeleton's only pals. To stay strong, bones need other minerals, vitamins, and proteins as well — all of which the right diet can provide in ample amounts.

Our bones are living tissue, constantly breaking down and rebuilding. By about age 30, however, the breakdown of bone outpaces its building, and our bones lose density, particularly a spongy-looking interior structure called trabecular bone that gives bones strength. Over time, bones may become excessively fragile, resulting in fractures related to osteoporosis. Women's risk of the disease is four times higher than men's, in part because they have less bone mass to begin with. Menopausal women lose bone two to four times faster than they did before menopause, the result of a decline in bone-protecting estrogen. That rate slows down eventually, but the decline continues.

Diet won't rev up bone replacement, but along with regular exercise, it can help us hold on to the precious bone we have.

[View]

4 Comments

regardless of what Christina says,milk does have a good bioavailabilty for calcium being absorbed.Maybe not as good as broccoli but better than spinach.That^s propoganda that milk does harm.Healthy children have grown with cow^s (& other animals milk) for centuries. As far as Osteo goes,there is no evidence that milk is the culprit in Western Socirty.Other factors like less manual work(sitting in the offices all day on a computer) as compared to 3rd world countries & hi consumption of soft drinks that DO cause damage to bones are likely culprits.milk always has 7 will be a part of Good Health

Submitted by kim on Sun, 2012-02-12 10:31pm.

The article is of no use.
It does not list foods that fight osteoporosis.
It begins by saying milk and dairy products are pals of bones, and then goes on to say they are not!!
What rubbish of an article!!!

Submitted by Hass Jamani on Fri, 2012-01-06 4:52am.

It's funny that this article mentions that meat and animal protein is highly acidic and pulls calcium away from our bones to help re-balance our alkaline state, HOWEVER they totally contradict themselves by touting DAIRY as a good source of calcium, making us think that milk products somehow are not an animal protein and are not equally as acidic in our body!!

Do your research people. It's a very simple look at the digestive process of milk and milk products and you will find that although milk itself is not acidic, when it is digested inside us, it forms an extremely acidic ash residue and actually causes MORE calcium to be extracted from our bones, just like with meat.

Why do you think people in Asian countries have a hugely lower percentage of osteoporosis than people in the west? They don't consume even close to the amount of dairy we do.

Submitted by Christina on Thu, 2012-01-05 9:55am.

Another way to protect oneself is to avoid the use of reverse osmosis water. This under the counter systems and most bottled waters are RO filtered. Some say right on the label remineralized but that still isn't as good as fresh, filtered tap water. Read the studies and know what you are drinking and washing with. RO water is too acidic and lacks ALL the minerals recommended by Health Canada for a healthy diet.

Submitted by sandi on Fri, 2011-11-25 5:36pm.