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Maintaining bone health is as important as maintaining heart and blood pressure health. It is not normal to have curvature of the spine and it will finally lead to spinal fractures due to a silent killer, osteoporosis.
Why is Your Vitamin D still Low despite Sun Exposure?
You all know that vitamin D is an essential nutrient to help better absorption of calcium. And when you are exposed to sunlight for 10-20 minutes (from 9-11a.m.) at least twice in a week can help the skin produce vitamin D.
You may be surprised to find that your vitamin D is still low even though you are exposed to sunlight for 10-30 minutes a day. The vitamin D deficiency here is due to many factors. One of them is age. Despite sun exposure, the skin is still reluctant to produce vitamin D. Other factors that affect the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin after stepping out in the sunlight for 10-30 minutes at 9-11a.m. a day are poor kidney function and liver related problems. Poorer liver and kidney can have a negative impact on the body’s ability to produce vitamin D in the skin.
When you have a poor liver and kidney function, you need to have optimum intake of vitamin D through both supplement(s) and diet. (Note: As regarding to how much dosage of calcium you should take please speak to your doctor. The daily calcium supplement intake varies from one individual to another).
Does a Pregnant Mom Need Calcium Supplements?
The answer is YES. During pregnancy, the calcium intake that is demanded by the baby is higher. That explains why women who are pregnant should consume more calcium. Furthermore, the fetuses obtain all their nutrients from their moms. So, more calcium will be used for the formation of strong bones. If a pregnant mom can’t obtain enough calcium from the diet (usually the case), their body will remove calcium from the stores in their bones, and when this situation happens, the mom will become very weak due to the loss of bone mass.
Often, a doctor will prescribe prenatal supplements that contain both calcium and vitamin D to help both moms and babies to obtain adequate supplies of these bone nourishing nutrients.
It is important to take enough vitamin D and calcium to help prevent low bone mass among pregnant moms and this also helps to prevent the babies from becoming deficient of essential minerals. Additionally, by taking calcium supplementation mothers and other individuals will ensure adequate amount of calcium being deposited into the bones and certainly, this will help prevent osteoporosis during old age.
Note: Prior to taking any calcium supplementation, pregnant moms need to seek the approval of a doctor to avoid any unexpected side effects. The best option is to discuss with a doctor regarding the daily dosage of calcium and type of calcium supplement that suits one best.
Besides Calcium and Vitamin D, are there Any Bone Nutrients?
Most people get confused thinking that calcium and vitamin D are the only two nutrients for bone health. The fact is that these are not the only nutrients required by your body as several trace minerals like potassium, magnesium, manganese, fluoride, zinc, among others work both directly and indirectly to support bone health. These nutrients can be obtained from food, especially leafy vegetables and fruits. That is why you are encouraged to eat a wide variety of foods, including a rainbow color of veggies and fruits to help facilitate your bone health.
As a good portion of your bone is made up of collagen (a form of protein), protein is another important nutrient, particularly the protein derived from natural sources of plants. This nutrient helps maintain muscle strength.
What Should You Do to Increase Your Bone Health?
Get moving! That’s the hint. Go for weight-bearing exercises as they stimulate osteoblasts cells which are responsible for bone formation to build stronger and newer bones. Your bones become stronger by dancing, mowing a lawn, climbing stairs, walking, jogging, jumping, running or jumping with a jumping rope. Qi gong, yoga, and Tai chi for examples, are physical movements that help coordinate and balance the muscles while strengthening muscle health. In those with osteoporotic and are lower bone mass, Qi gong, Tai chi, walking, dancing, jogging are vital exercises to help prevent fractures and falls. Elderly people are encouraged to perform more weight-bearing exercises to help stimulate muscle function and bone strength. Usually, I will encourage elderly people to stay at home as family members will less worry that they may injure themselves by the roadside or around the park (unless they are being accompanied by other family members).
You need to get proper amounts of “bone nutrition” like calcium and vitamin D in your diet. Red coralline seaweed, wakame, soy, ABM mushroom are some of the great sources for these nutrients. Soy milk, rice milk, or oat milk is another great source for these nutrients. Cow milk or calcium source from dairy product is not recommended as due to the unexpected contamination, pus, bacteria, hormone, and etc.
Lastly, you should adopt a healthy lifestyle by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption and smoking as studies show that they can rob calcium and other mineral content from your bones making them fragile and weak. Apart from that, sedentary lifestyle; excessive carbonated drinks; over consumption of fast food (like burger, sausage, hot dog, pizza, popcorn), sugary foods (like ice-cream, creamy cake, biscuits, chocolate, lollipop, doughnut) and caffeine intake can lead to bone loss too.
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As always, eat well, stay well and be happy!
very informative and great healthy article my friend. :)v+ping
I read (somewhere!) that Vitamin D needs varies from person to person, too. I have low kidney function so have to supplement with D anyway. Good article.
Thanks Chan, I will add more leafy vegetables and fruits to my diet.
A very informative and useful post. Thanks for the share.
A well accomplished about bone wellness, I love the bone health succession, thank you so much Chan.
Great info Chan!
Very valuable one Chan and a good reminder specially for the women :)
Very helpful information about bone health!
Good info and very well presented by you.
Nice topic and a wealth of important information here. Thanks for sharing your knowledge in this area. Voted
Another health awareness necessity regarding bone wellness. Thanks for sharing Chan.