This can be achieved by taking steps to maintain strong, healthy bones. The most important influences on bone health are exercise, diet and hormones. If any one of these factors is inadequate either when bones are growing to their peak mass during puberty or during any stage of adult life, bone strength suffers.
Exercise
Women tend to take less exercise as they
get older. The physical demands of child-raising and housekeeping are less than we think, and jobs are often sedentary. Also, until recently our society has rather discouraged physical activity in women of middle age and beyond. Rest was considered to be more beneficial than exercise and strenuous activities were thought to be ‘unladylike’. Many women over the age of 70 are now suffering the consequences of this attitude.
To maintain healthy bones you must continue regular weight-bearing exercise from puberty throughout adult life. This means moving around on your feet, sun as in walking, running, tennis and golf. (Swimming is not a weight-bearing exercise, though it is beneficial in many other ways.) A brisk walk of 2 kilometers more at least every second day would good for your bones, as well as reducing: your risk of heart disease. Unlike Eliza Doolittle, resolve never to ride if you car possibly walk (this includes lifts). But though it is important in slowing the rate of bone loss after middle age, exercise alone won’t prevent osteoporosis.
Exercise maintains bone density only m dietary calcium is adequate. Women past menopause need 1000-1500 mg of calcium per day. You’ll get this amount from a liter of milk or its equivalent in milk products. Dairy produce is the best source of calcium, but many people avoid milk products in an attempt to reduce the content of their diets. All low-fat dairy ducts (except cottage cheese) are excellent sources of calcium.
Dairy-marketing authorities have produced excellent information leaflets, which you can find in your local doctor’s or hospital’s waiting room, in any health centre and even in the supermarket. These leaflets list the calcium content of other foods as well as milk products, so that if you
don’t like or can’t tolerate milk and cheese you can get your daily requirements from such calcium-rich foods as small fish (for example, canned salmon and sardines where you eat the bones), shellfish, broccoli, spinach, sesame seeds and many others.
I’m sure that most people would prefer to get their nutritional requirements from food rather than from tablets, but if you fee1 that you can’t get enough calcium from your diet, ask your doctor about
supplements. It’s possible to overdose on calcium supplements, so follow your doctor’s or the manufacturer’s dosage instructions carefully. It’s unlikely that you could get too much calcium from food, except that high-calcium diets can be harmful in the rare problem of calcium-containing urinary stones.
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