Osteoporosis

Posted by vijaya in September 6th, 2008

Osteoporosis literally means ‘porous bones’. Bones become more fragile and are prone to break. Two types of cells are constantly at work in our bones. One set builds up new bone while another breaks down old bone. Up to our mid-twenties the construction cells work harder, building strength into our skeleton and from our forties onwards, the demolition cells take over and our bones gradually lose their density as a natural part of ageing.

Osteoporosis is thus a normal physiological process and not a disease. It is up to us how we guard ourselves from the rate it progresses in the body. Very often, we get obsessed with calcium supplements when it comes to bone health and think that popping a calcium pill is the answer to strengthening the bones. However, there is much more to bone health.

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Maximise intake of calcium through diet

Research indicates that in order to maximise calcium intake, we need to consume it mainly in the form of milk and curds and relatively less in any other form of milk product like cottage cheese, processed cheese etc.This is attributed to the fact that in order to favor usage and storage of calcium in the body, it has to be taken with moderate protein, low sodium, high potassium, and high magnesium.

Some other sources of calcium

Load your diet with plenty of green vegetables, pulses and oilseeds. They are excellent sources of potassium and magnesium, besides calcium. Make use of oilseeds like til, pulses like rajma, and cereals like ragi which are all loaded with calcium.
Enrich your diet with loads of Vitamin C through foods like amla, guava, cabbage, capsicum, and citrus fruits. Vitamin C is known to favor bone synthesis and calcium absorption.

Use of soybean and its products (30 g/day) and flax seeds powder (one tablespoon/day) facilitates bone retention because of the presence of phytochemicals like isoflavones and Iignans, which almost act like hormones in the body substituting effectively for the growing estrogen deficiency.