Diet and bone health Author : Stephen Walsh

Calcium is essential to life. The body acts to keep calcium levels in the blood within a very narrow range
by regulating absorption of calcium from the gut and from bone, and to a lesser extent by regulating
losses of calcium in urine. Unfortunately, these regulating mechanisms do not adequately preserve bone
in older people in developed countries. Measures to promote bone health are important throughout life to
assist in building bone and to reduce later losses of bone.
In all developed countries with ageing populations, thinning of bones due to loss of calcium is a major
public health issue. As bones thin, risk of fracture increases. Hip fracture is a particularly devastating
injury, with many people dying within a year of suffering such a fracture. Osteoporosis and vertebral
fractures give rise to the familiar loss of height with age and to the painfully familiar bent over stance of
many elderly people.
Preventing such fractures is one of the most important public health issues for the 21st century, as
populations across the world grow older and more prosperous. There are three main approaches to
tackling this problem: drugs, diet and lifestyle. This paper will consider diet and, to a lesser extent,
physical activity and sun exposure