The strength and resilience of your bones depend on your intake of calcium and vitamin D throughout your lifetime. During childhood and adolescent growth, your body builds, or models, compact bone. This process lasts into your early 20s, on average, to be superseded by bone remodeling, or the replacement of old bone with new cells in adulthood. Your vitamin and mineral intake, in part, determines how much bone density you will retain as you grow older.
Bone Mineral Density
When your body receives enough calcium and vitamin D, bone remodeling takes place normally, and you sustain the peak bone mass that you generated as a child. When your nutrient intake diminishes, your body "mines" that primary source for remodeling purposes, and you lose bone mineral density, or thickness. When dietary shortages force this action repeatedly over time, your bones become weak, thinner and at greater risk for fractures.
Calcium Requirements
Most Americans do not ingest the proper amount of calcium every day, according to the Office of the Surgeon General, but this goal is achievable through diet and supplementation. A balanced diet drawn from every food group offers sufficient calcium sources to compile the 1,200 mg of calcium per day recommended for all adults by the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Low-fat dairy products offer the greatest amounts of calcium. You can augment your intake with cooked dry beans and leafy green vegetables, fish such as salmon canned with bones, fortified cereal and orange juice, and nuts such as almonds.
Vitamin D Needs
Your body cannot efficiently absorb and use calcium to build and maintain bone mineral density without the daily availability of vitamin D. Your body forms some vitamin D following skin exposure to sunlight but requires more through dietary intake. Because adequate intake is associated with a reduced risk of falling, including vitamin D sources in your diet can decrease your chances of breaking bones. The National Osteoporosis Foundation considers 800 to 1,000 IU of dietary vitamin D sufficient to fulfill adult needs, which vary among individuals based on their access to sunlight.
Significance
The loss of bone mineral density is a disease called osteoporosis, which affects 1.5 million Americans per year with a fracture to a hip, vertebral or other bone, according to the Office of the Surgeon General. Fractures are often precipitated by accidental falls and may result in hospitalization, surgery and limited or loss of mobility. The National Osteoporosis Foundation reports that nearly one-quarter of all hip fractures attributed to osteoporosis lead to health complications and death within the year in patients over age 50.
