Why healthy bones are about so much more than milk
People generally think that drinking milk can make your bones stronger and healthier, with all those calcium and vitamin D, but that’s not scientifically accurate. The skeletal system formed by the bones is significant to your body. It supports organs, works with the muscles, stores minerals, produces hormones, and even makes blood. Bones have three layers: the periosteum, compact bone and trabecular bone which is filled with bone marrow.
Many people know that bones start growing when we are adolescents. We reach our peak bone mass in our 20s, but that doesn’t mean that our bones have stopped growing. Our body is constantly removing old bones are replacing them with new ones. Research shows that this process leads to a new skeleton every 10 years. After reaching our peak bone mass, bone removal starts to outpace replacement. An extreme version of this is a type of bone disease called osteoporosis.
Bones store calcium. When the intake is low, our body draws calcium from our bones, which may result in bone loss. Therefore, we need enough calcium to maintain our bones. We should also take vitamin D as it helps our body to absorb calcium more efficiently. We can absorb more calcium and vitamin D in our diets. We can get calcium from dairy products like yogurt and cheese, leafy greens like spinach and kale, cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage, proteins like tofu, nuts, beans and fish, and also from fortified cereals, orange juice, and chia seeds. Vitamin D appears in fatty fish, and our skin makes vitamin D from the Sun.
Doing exercise can also strengthen our bones. Mechanical loading stimulates the cells that build our bones. Any activity like walking, jogging, dancing, racket sports and strength training are good fits. By putting stress on our bones, they stimulate extra deposits of calcium and growth of new bones.
To conclude, our bones are crucial to our health and are removing and replacing themselves. A wide and varied choice of methods can help strengthen our bones, like consuming more calcium and vitamin D, and doing more exercises. But all else being equal, bone health is so much more than just milk.