Q: So what kind of foods should people be eating?
The best foods for calcium are dairy products; juices that are fortified in calcium; and green, leafy vegetables. The best sources of vitamin D are vitamin D-fortified milk, egg yolks, and salt-water fish.
Q: How much vitamin D and calcium should people be getting?
Every premenopausal woman and every man needs approximately 1,000 mg of calcium per day, and every postmenopausal woman and any individual with a chronic disease, particularly those patients taking corticosteroids, need 1,500 mg of calcium. The average recommendation for vitamin D is between 400 and 800 units of vitamin D per day.
Q: So for a postmenopausal woman, you're really talking about doubling the calcium intake based upon a normal diet?
Right.
Q: Is that a difficult thing to do without supplements?
It is actually more difficult than you would think to get enough calcium in your diet. You really have to be conscious of it, and that's why I recommend that people figure out how much calcium they get on an average day and then supplement their calcium to maximize it to 1,500 mg.
Q: How does a person figure out how much calcium is in their food?
Most doctors have sheets that they give patients to help them calculate how much calcium and vitamin D they get in their diet. There are many books out on vitamins. It's actually fairly straightforward.
Q: There are some other lifestyle components to preventing osteoporosis. Briefly, what are they?
Weight-bearing exercises such as walking, jogging, tennis, and soccer are great for the prevention of osteoporosis. They are exercises that really use the legs and increase bone density. For older patients, weight-bearing exercises and balance training increase agility. What we are worried about with osteoporosis is fracture, so we particularly want to get our elderly patients active, so that they are more well-balanced and less likely to fall.
Conclusion
These exercise and diet habits are important throughout life. For younger individuals, they help maximize bone mineral density. And for people in their later years, these simple lifestyle modifications can help to fortify bone and prevent bone loss-helping to keep your bones strong and healthy for a lifetime.
