Suzy Cohen, RPh, writes on her blog about recent research that says increasing your calcium intake doesn’t correlate to bone health. Cohen disagrees with this finding, listing not only her reasons why calcium is important, but also how to get more of it through the foods we eat.
She also discusses what you may have not considered for maintaining healthy bones.
The study, published by the British Medical Journal says that increasing the amount of calcium in your diet doesn’t help to prevent bone fractures. Cohen disagrees, noting that 99% of the calcium found in the human body are in teeth and bones. Women are at increased risk to osteopenia and osteoporosis due to smaller body size and muscle mass, as well as a drop in hormones after menopause.
One way to maintain healthy bones is to incorporate weight-bearing exercise into your daily regimen. Walking or dancing are examples of weight-bearing exercise that most people can easily do.
According to Cohen, eating foods high in calcium is another way to keep bones strong. Specifically, lightly cooked green and crunchy vegetables, such as broccoli or collard greens, have a lot of calcium. A cup of collard greens actually has 268 mg of calcium! She also notes that cows get the building blocks for making milk by eating lots of green grass. So why drink milk when you can go straight to the source?
A third component for maintaining strong bones is by promoting healthy gut flora.
Probiotics prevent the loss of bone post-menopause. They also regulate calcium absorption by your body.
Cohen makes the point that building bone health means adopting a multi-prong approach. This includes diet, exercise, and gut health. She recommends using natural sources of calcium over supplements.
Want to know more about how to build better bone health?
Read the full article here: “How Probiotics Improve Bone Strength.”
