How to Care for Your Bones Through the Ages

Bones are the body's first lines of defense. They protect the brain, heart and lungs and anchor the muscles. They keep us mobile. And all they ask in return is our support to keep them strong: good nutrition, weight-bearing exercise, calcium and vitamin D.

Bones' needs also vary with age. You accumulate an astonishing 90 percent of all your bone mass by the time you're 21, so it pays to bank that calcium in your early years. After that, it's all about maintenance You don't want to be a senior citizen with broken hips or curved vertebrae, which can lead to hunched posture and difficulty breathing.

Ages 55 to 70

Dr. Kim Allen, an internist at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, advises her adult patients to exercise at least 30 minutes five times a week, do weight-bearing exercise and take in at least two servings of calcium-rich foods daily.

It also helps if you don't smoke, as that can inhibit the absorption of calcium and vitamin D.

Over 70

Seniors need to keep up the weight-bearing exercises and good nutrition they established as adults, increasing calcium intake to at least 1,200 mg.

It is particularly crucial that women have a bone density assessment after menopause, says Dr. Mitch Carroll, director of the Senior Health Clinic at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

Men may need this assessment, too, but it's not always clear at what age they should get it. But men who have lost height or have been exposed to steroids should get them as soon as possible, he says.

The noninvasive bone scan, which feels like a slow-moving X-ray, is vital for women, because the loss of estrogen after menopause causes a thinning of the bones. That can lead to osteopenia, which can turn into osteoporosis, which can cause the bones to fracture, leaving a bedridden patient subject to blood clots or pneumonia.

Sunscreen and Vitamin D

Our bones are getting less calcium than in generations past. Even if we are drinking the same amount of milk and calcium-rich foods as our parents, we are getting less vitamin D, which is needed to absorb that calcium.

We can get vitamin D from the sun. But now we are getting less sun and less vitamin D because of the increased use of sunscreen.

That doesn't mean the answer is to go out in the sun unprotected. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises using sunscreen to protect your skin and making up the difference in vitamin D supplements. Fox says adults and seniors need 800-1,000 IU.

Beyond the Supplements

You can also get calcium the old-fashioned way, from calcium-rich foods.

Nonfat dry milk, reconstituted (1 cup): 375 mg

Lowfat, skim or whole milk (1 cup): 290 to 300 mg

Yogurt (1 cup): 275 to 400 mg

Sardines with bones (3 oz.): 370 mg

Ricotta cheese, part skim ( 1/2 cup): 340 mg

Salmon, canned, with bones (3 oz.): 285 mg

Cheese, Swiss (1 oz.): 272 mg

Cheese, cheddar (1 oz.): 204 mg

Cheese, American (1 oz.): 174 mg

Cottage cheese, lowfat (1 cup): 154 mg

Tofu (4 oz.): 154 mg

Shrimp (1 cup): 147 mg