Lose Weight, Not Bone

Are you planning on losing weight this year? If you are, please use a combination of dietary change and exercise. Not only will the two practices help you lose more weight than if you just choose to do one, but the combination will also help to prevent bone loss.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed 48 overweight (but not obese) men and women with an average age of 57 over the course of a year. Some of them were in a calorie-restricted group that made dietary changes to cut their calorie intake by 20%, others exercised for one hour a day and kept their calorie intake the same, while 10 were in the control group and made no changes. After a year, the calorie cutters lost an average of 18 pounds each, but they also lost 2.2% of the bone density in their hips and spine and 2.1% of the bone density at the top of their femurs—a significant loss. The exercisers, on the other hand, lost an average of 15 pounds and showed no decrease in bone mineral density. The control group showed no changes in weight or bone density.

It had previously been established that weight loss is associated with bone loss and that exercise can help preserve bone. This research suggests that weight loss can be achieved without bone loss and that exercise is a vital component in the weight-loss process, especially for those who are at risk for osteoporosis. For those of you who want to lose weight, weight-bearing exercises such as walking, jogging, lifting weights, dancing and stair climbing are great for strengthening bones as well as burning calories. Try to combine any of these activities with some positive dietary changes for strong and lean results.

Storing Nuts and Dried Fruit

Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption and, therefore, strong bones and the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. The “sunshine vitamin”, as vitamin D is aptly called, is also important for optimal lung function and the prevention of certain cancers, hypertension and heart disease, to name just a few. Vitamin D seems to be such an important yet often overlooked nutrient that experts are currently considering raising the recommendation of 400 IU (international units) daily to a higher amount. It is very unlikely that you are getting adequate vitamin D from food alone. Few foods contain vitamin D; those that do are (ranked from most to least): cod liver oil, herring, salmon, canned sardines, fortified milk, canned shrimp, fortified orange juice, fortified cereal and egg yolks. Since a glass of fortified milk or orange juice only has 25% of your daily needs at the most, you can see that sunshine might be an important adjunct to your diet. Sunlight on our unprotected skin is necessary for vitamin D production, and even with 10 minutes of exposure a day, not everyone is able to produce enough. Furthermore, avoiding sun is important for preventing skin cancer. Your doctor can do a simple blood test for 25-hydroxy vitamin D to determine if you are deficient. If your blood levels are low, ask your doctor for a prescription for synthetic vitamin D, since the natural form of the vitamin usually also contains vitamin A, which should not be taken in supplement form.