Maintaining Strong Bones: How to Keep Your Height and Maintain Your Balance
By Dawn Weatherwax-Fall on February 13th, 2009

Calcium is one of the most essential nutrients necessary for healthy bone development, and studies have shown that by the time you reach age 30, you will have reached the maximum amount of calcium you’re body will ever be able to retain.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that with supplements and additional action to increase the level of calcium in your diet, you can combat the effects.

Age: 50 to 65

Around the time you reach your fifties, calcium requirements increase, especially for women. When a woman starts to go through pre-menopause the body starts to make less estrogen, which means less bone. Menopause accelerates this process and the process may last from 4 – 8 years after menopause. The gastrointestinal system also becomes less efficient at absorbing calcium from food and the kidneys also become less efficient in conserving calcium. This creates a state of potential calcium loss in the blood, and the body compensates for this by drawing calcium out of the bones.

To reduce the loss of calcium from the bones, you’ll need to take steps to increase the intake of calcium from your diet. On average, individuals acquire roughly 250 mg of calcium from a general diet, and 300 mg for each serving of dairy products. Your goal is to consumer roughly 3-4 servings of dairy products a day or a combination of non-dairy sources to make sure your getting the calcium you need to keep your bones in shape.

Age: 65+

In your post-menopausal years, the rate of bone loss as a consequence of estrogen deficiency slows down. However, the body still needs higher intakes of calcium because of the GI tract and Kidney’s not performing optimally. Again diet is very important to compensate for any shortcomings, so if you weren’t paying as close attention, now’s your chance to do what you can to help your bones retain calcium. Make sure you are getting between 1000-1300mg of calcium a day, reaching the recommended daily levels of activity in a week and maintain a well balanced diet.

If you find yourself falling short of filling your calcium needs through your diet, consider the use of calcium supplements. Here are some of my recommendations to steer you through your search:

• Look for calcium that comes in a calcium citrate and/or carbonate form.
• I recommend the 200-500mg tablets, since calcium is hard to absorb and resembles the amount of calcium in one dairy serving.
• Be sure to look for a calcium supplement that contains vitamin D and magnesium. Check the labels to make look for a 2 to 1 ratio of calcium to vitamin D and magnesium. (i.e. 200mg Calcium, 100IU Vit D and 100mg Mg)
• Find a calcium supplement that also contains boron, silicon and vitamin K to maximize the absorption and utilization of the calcium supplement.
• And remember, it is very important to spread out the calcium tablets throughout the day and to take with food to maximize absorption.

If you’re not sure where to start or worried about how your bone health might be thus far, seek additional assistance from a dietitian. With the right amount of calcium, you can help insure that you’ll be able to stand a little stronger at any age.

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