We think of bone as hard, sturdy and unyielding – the internal scaffolding that holds us together and helps us stand tall.
That’s true. But bone is also living tissue that adjusts and evolves throughout our lives.
Maintaining healthy bones doesn’t just happen; it takes work. Eat the right foods, do the right exercises, dodge the bad habits – and you’ll likely be rewarded with strong bones that resist breakage. Indulge in unhealthy activities, like partying and fad diets, and you could be stuck with a frame that’s porous, weak and easily fractured.
For women, paying attention to skeletal health is critical.
“Women begin life with a lower bone mass than men do,” says John Aloia, M.D., director of bone-mineral research at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. “This is one reason women are more likely to develop osteoporosis [loss of bone density].”
About 80% of bone mass is based on the amount you accumulate in childhood and early adulthood, Aloia says. Exactly how strong your bones become is determined largely by genetics, but also by lifestyle.
“Bone mass can be increased by exercise,” he says. “Drinking milk in childhood is also associated with a higher peak bone mass.”
But even though you stop growing, your bones don’t. In fact, your habits play a big role in bone strength well into old age.
Read on to learn how they develop each decade, and what you can do to keep them healthy.
In Your 20s:
You can eat almost anything without consequence and have boundless energy to boot – but you still haven’t hit peak bone mass, when your bones are at their strongest.
“The 20s are a critical period,” says rheumatologist Nathan Wei, M.D., director of the Arthritis Treatment Center in Frederick, Md. “If you engage in behavior that hurts your bones, you’ll never reach peak bone mass.”
Some key strategies:
* Eat bone-building foods. To make sure your bones become as strong as possible, Wei recommends getting 1,000-1,200 mg of calcium every day from dairy foods such as yogurt, low-fat cheese or skim milk (about four servings a day).
Make sure you’re also getting 400-800 IU of vitamin D every day, which will help you absorb that calcium, he says. (See Top Foods for Vitamin D.)
* Load up on other nutrients, too – including magnesium, phosphorous and vitamin K, says Marcelle Pick, ob-gyn N.P., co-founder of a women’s holistic medical clinic in Yarmouth, Maine.
You’ll get magnesium in leafy greens, legumes and whole grains, and phosphorous in low-fat dairy foods, eggs and lean red meat. Vitamin K is found in leafy greens and broccoli.
* Avoid excessive dieting and exercising. Eating too little and following extreme exercise regimens can stop your menstrual period, Wei says, which prevents the ovaries from producing estrogen your body needs to build bone.
* Limit alcohol.
“Alcohol slows down the activity of the osteoblasts – the cells that make bone,” says Kimberly Templeton, M.D., professor of orthopedic surgery, health policy and management at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo., and president of the U.S. Bone and Joint Decade Initiative.
It happens if you drink more than two alcoholic beverages a day, she says.
Imbibing more can also interfere with liver function and reduce hormones such as estrogen, she adds.
* Nix the cigarettes. Smoking tobacco slows down cells that make bone, interfering with the development of peak bone mass in younger people and increasing bone loss in those over 30, Templeton says.
* Watch your soft-drink intake. While some phosphorus is good for you, the phosphoric acid in sodas can overload your system and upset its balance with calcium – which is detrimental to bone health, Wei says.
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