Some dairy products that will give your bones a boost include:. It has antioxidants and other nutrients that reduce stress, which has been linked to the prevention of age-related bone loss.

Green tea often contains fluoride, which helps slow the progression of osteoporosis. As we mentioned earlier, vitamin D is crucial for calcium absorption in your body to get the ultimate benefits for your bones.

For Canadians, it can be a bit tough to rely on the sun all year round to soak up vitamin D. Fish like salmon or mackerel are great for vitamin D, whereas sardines and tuna are sources of calcium.

Leafy greens are a big umbrella of calcium-packed nutrients that allows you to choose from a variety of options.

Not only are they filled with calcium, but they also contain magnesium to support your bone health. Some of the best cruciferous veggies and leafy greens that will help you strengthen bones are:.

Nuts are a powerhouse that will strengthen bones and give you other nutritional benefits. They have calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus.

Magnesium, similar to vitamin D, helps your body absorb and retain calcium. The best nuts for your bone health are almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and pecans, with plenty more out there to choose from too. They also have some other bonus nutrients — fibre and omega-3 fatty acids.

These not only strengthen bones but support your brain and nervous system. If nuts and seeds are excellent sources of calcium and vitamin D, nut butter is the perfect pairing with your morning toast. To get the most out of it, have tablespoons on a slice of whole-grain bread or a banana.

Green juice is also packed with vitamin C, which helps form collagen to assist in strengthening bones. Some groups of the population are at greater risk of not getting enough vitamin D, and the Department of Health and Social Care recommends that these people should take a daily 10 microgram IU vitamin D supplement all year round.

These groups are:. If you've been diagnosed with osteoporosis, your doctor may prescribe calcium and vitamin D supplements as well as osteoporosis drug treatments if they have concerns that your calcium intake may be low. Find out more about treating osteoporosis.

Women lose bone more rapidly for a number of years after the menopause when their ovaries almost stop producing oestrogen, which has a protective effect on bones. There are no specific calcium or vitamin D recommendations for the menopause, however a healthy balanced diet, including calcium, summer sunlight and vitamin D supplements, will help slow down the rate of bone loss.

Non-vegans get most of their calcium from dairy foods milk, cheese and yoghurt , but vegans will need to get it from other foods.

The vegan diet contains little, if any, vitamin D without fortified foods or supplements but, for everyone, sunlight on the skin in spring and summer is the main source of vitamin D.

Remember to cover up or protect your skin before it starts to turn red or burn. Read more about sources of calcium and vitamin D in the vegan diet. During pregnancy and when breastfeeding, women who follow a vegan diet need to make sure they get enough vitamins and minerals for their child to develop healthily.

There are many different internal mechanisms and types of cells that contribute to healing which can be altered by nutrition and lifestyle factors. Following any fracture broken bone or surgery that involves the bones, patients can optimize their bone healing through careful attention to nutrient consumption.

The most important nutrients for bone health are calcium and Vitamin D, which can be obtained from dietary sources or from supplements. The recommended daily intake of calcium is different based on age and gender, so it is important to talk to your healthcare provider about how much calcium is recommended for you.

Many foods contain calcium, and there are many supplements available to help maintain an adequate calcium level for bone health. Exposure to sunshine helps your body to make Vitamin D, which you can also obtain from food and supplements.

Avoiding or reducing the intake of these substances can help to improve or maintain the health of your bones and other tissues. Eating a well-rounded diet, with plenty of fresh, non-processed foods, is an important way to promote healthy bones and whole-body wellness!

For questions or concerns, seek professional medical attention. For medical emergencies, call March How Does Nutrition Affect Bone Healing?

By Jesse Morse-Brady, FNP-BC. Calcium The most important nutrients for bone health are calcium and Vitamin D, which can be obtained from dietary sources or from supplements. To schedule an appointment, Call us at Return to Main Blog. You should be able to get all the calcium you need by eating a varied and balanced diet.

Although spinach contains a lot of calcium, it also contains oxalate, which reduces calcium absorption, and it is therefore not a good source of calcium.

Adults need 10 micrograms International Units or IU of vitamin D a day. It's difficult to get all the vitamin D we need from our diet and we get most of our vitamin D from the action of the sun on our skin.

However, everyone should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter when we cannot make vitamin D from sunlight.

For babies and children, see vitamins for children. Some groups of the population are at greater risk of not getting enough vitamin D, and the Department of Health and Social Care recommends that these people should take a daily 10 microgram IU vitamin D supplement all year round.

These groups are:. If you've been diagnosed with osteoporosis, your doctor may prescribe calcium and vitamin D supplements as well as osteoporosis drug treatments if they have concerns that your calcium intake may be low.

Find out more about treating osteoporosis. Women lose bone more rapidly for a number of years after the menopause when their ovaries almost stop producing oestrogen, which has a protective effect on bones.

There are no specific calcium or vitamin D recommendations for the menopause, however a healthy balanced diet, including calcium, summer sunlight and vitamin D supplements, will help slow down the rate of bone loss. Non-vegans get most of their calcium from dairy foods milk, cheese and yoghurt , but vegans will need to get it from other foods.

The vegan diet contains little, if any, vitamin D without fortified foods or supplements but, for everyone, sunlight on the skin in spring and summer is the main source of vitamin D.

Remember to cover up or protect your skin before it starts to turn red or burn. Read more about sources of calcium and vitamin D in the vegan diet. During pregnancy and when breastfeeding, women who follow a vegan diet need to make sure they get enough vitamins and minerals for their child to develop healthily.

The next natural bone healing method is to use essential oils. Three powerful essential oils for helping to heal broken bones are cypress essential oil, fir needle essential oil and helichrysum essential oil.

Make a blend, and put this on your body five to six times daily, directly on the broken bone area. Cypress oil really improves circulation in the area, speeding the healing process; fir oil really works in helping repair the bone; and helichrysum helps in repairing damaged nerve tissue due its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

Last but not least, getting acupuncture treatment is another beneficial practice for bone healing. It transforms where your body energy is utilized, supports your organs and repairs damaged bones. In a study of Traditional Chinese Medicine on healing bone fractures published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine , acupuncture treatments sped up bone healing in patients with broken bones.

Popular Posts All Time This Week {position} Detox Your Liver: A 6-Step Liver Cleanse. More Health Dr. Axe on Facebook Dr. Axe on Twitter 70 Dr. Axe on Instagram Dr. Axe on Google Plus Dr. Axe on Youtube Dr. Axe on Pintrest Share on Email Print Article 6. Symptoms and even chronic diseases related to heavy metal toxicity also called Axe on Twitter 21 Dr.

Axe on Pintrest 46 Share on Email Print Article 2. Several studies show that exercising kindness boosts happiness levels, but new evidence In the apple-eating control group, BMD stayed unchanged or decreased. But in both groups of women who ate prunes, spine bone density increased, while forearm and hip BMD remained the same.

Several recent studies have shown onions are a top crop when it comes to supporting bone density. Onions are high in quercetin, which appears to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Broccoli is a bone superfood chock full of so many key nutrients for bone health and prevention of osteoporosis. Along with calcium and Vitamin K , broccoli is also full of other nutrients like magnesium, zinc and phosphorous.

Not a broccoli fan? Instead, try broccoli rabe, a brassica family cousin of broccoli. You can get Vitamin D from sunshine and supplementation, and the sea! Fatty fish like wild caught salmon and tuna are a good food source for Vitamin D, the fat soluble vitamin that plays a key role in bone growth and remodeling.

Specifically, one of the things it does is it helps the gut absorb calcium. Nearly 50 percent of adults in the U. are deficient in Vitamin D, largely because of lack of direct sunlight for a large chunk of the year and our indoor lifestyles. Wild caught salmon is among the best food sources of Vitamin D.

An average 3. Even a small, 3. Nuts are rich in the essential bone-building minerals magnesium and phosphorus. Magnesium is needed to help the body absorb and retain calcium in the bones. Phosphorus is a key mineral for bone strength — almost 85 percent of the phosphorus in your body can be found in your bones and teeth.

Almonds are a good source for magnesium and phosphorous. Other nut varieties that deliver these bone-building minerals include walnuts, peanuts and pecans. Make it a habit to eat pumpkin and pumpkin seeds — not just in the fall, but year round.

The flesh of pumpkin itself is very nutrient-dense, containing substantial amounts of important bone-building minerals such as potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. Pumpkin seeds are high in plant-based omega-3 fat alpha linolenic acid , which the body converts into the more essential omega-3 fats known as EPA and DHA.

These omega-3 fats are highly anti-inflammatory and women with higher blood levels of these precious fats have been shown to have lower rates of hip fracture. Ginger root contains anti-inflammatory compounds that can reduce pain, swelling and tissue damage. Unwanted inflammatory cytokines weaken bone and contribute to arthritis.

Ginger also enhances digestion, allowing your body to better absorb important bone-building nutrients in the foods you eat.

Strong digestion and assimilation is key to optimum bone health. Ginger also aids the body through its alkalizing actions and by its contribution to the production of glutathione, our most important inner-cellular antioxidant.

Natto is a form of fermented soybean and an excellent source of the MK-7 form of Vitamin K2, which is so important for bone health and our cardiovascular health too. Natto is a common food in Japan and other Asian countries.

Alternatives for Vitamin K2 include gouda cheese and fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and seaweed. In a large Irish study of almost 2, women and men, one serving of yogurt daily was linked to a substantially lower risk of osteoporosis and osteopenia.

The bone-strengthening effect of yogurt was not seen in people who drank milk or ate cheese — it was the yogurt, specifically, not just any dairy product.

But it does support the idea that nutrient-dense foods, like a low-sugar, high-probiotic yogurt, benefit bone by delivering calcium, protein, phosphorus, potassium and beneficial pro-biotic bacteria.

Without piperine, these nutrients are at greater risk of being destroyed in the gut or poorly absorbed. Piperine also contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that are protective for bone.

Gohil P, Mehta A. Molecular targets of pepper as bioavailability enhancer. Oriental Pharmacy and Experimental Medicine 9 4 , Kesarwani K, Gupta R. Bioavailability enhancers of herbal origin: An overview.

Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. Devareddy, L. Blueberry prevents bone loss in ovariectomized rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Nutr Biochem; 19 Sahni, S et al. Mackinnon, ES et al. Osteoporosis international Chandra, Satyesh and Anita Pakrashi, Ginger: A Versatile Healing Herb, Vedams ebooks P , Ltd.

Jan 1, ; Grzanna, R. Learn my time-tested 6 step natural approach to bone health in my online courses. The Center for Better Bones and the Better Bones Foundation Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD Franklin Park Drive East Syracuse, NY Submit a Support Ticket.

This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal physician. Neither Dr. Susan Brown PhD nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content.

All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program. Provide the body with adequate energy and calories 2.

Increase your protein intake 3. Boost your mineral intake to include all 20 key bone building nutrients. Enhance vitamin intake 6. Physiology of fracture healing Fracture healing involves complex processes of cell and tissue proliferation and differentiation. The nutritional demands of healing Each stage of the fracture healing process brings with it increased nutritional demands.

But there are a number of methods you can employ to reduce your healing time: 1. Provide the body with adequate energy Fracture healing requires more energy than you might expect.

Increase your protein intake Bone can be imagined as being somewhat like a sponge made of living protein upon which mineral crystals are embedded. Increase anti-inflammatory nutrients Antioxidants repair oxidative damage.

Specific key minerals for fracture healing include the following: ZINC. Some enzymes require zinc for their functioning. Many of these functions involve cell proliferation. Zinc supplementation aids in callus formation, enhances bone protein production, and thus stimulates fracture healing. Copper aids in the formation of bone collagen and is important to the healing process.

The main minerals in bone are calcium and phosphorus, in the form of calcium hydroxyapatite crystals. This hydroxyapatite compound plays an important role in regulating the elastic stiffness and tensile strength of bone. The building and rebuilding of bone tissue requires adequate supplies of both calcium and phosphorus, which can be supplied from diet and bone reserves.

Early research suggested that fractures can heal normally independent of dietary calcium and indeed it has been found that during the first few weeks of healing, calcium is drawn from the skeleton for fracture healing. After that, the diet provides the calcium necessary for fracture repair.

Calcium adequacy at the RDA level is important, but unusually high intakes do not appear to speed fracture healing. As calcium absorption is dependent on vitamin D, these nutrients work synergistically.

Human studies, in fact, suggest that for best fracture healing both calcium and vitamin D should be obtained in optimum daily levels. Most of us consume plenty of phosphorus and often too much if the diet is high in processed foods and colas.

However, the elderly, dieters, and those on low protein diets often do not consume enough phosphorus to meet the needs of new bone formation. It has long been known that bioactive silicon silica plays an important role in bone collagen synthesis.

A human study found bioactive silicon to enhance the effects of calcium and vitamin D3 on new bone formation. Enhance vitamin intake While protein and minerals may be the building blocks, vitamins are the catalysts for many biochemical reactions and are equally important.

In fracture healing, we can clearly identify the vital roles of several vitamins including vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin K as well as the energy-producing B vitamins, which should all be taken in therapeutic doses: VITAMIN C is essential for proper synthesis of the bone collagen protein matrix.

It is also one of the most important antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients. In severe vitamin C deficiency, collagen becomes too unstable to function properly, which results in skin lesions and fragile blood vessels with eventual bleeding from all mucous membranes. A tendency to black and blue without reason is most often a sign of sub-clinical vitamin C deficiency.

Because of its essential role in bone collagen formation, adequate vitamin C is required for fracture healing. Several animal studies document this fact. For example, a small Turkish rat study showed that vitamin C supplementation accelerated the fracture healing process.

A similar, yet larger, Spanish study also documented that rats with higher vitamin C blood levels developed a stronger fracture callus than did those with low blood levels.

VITAMIN D is the primary regulator of calcium absorption and without adequate vitamin D calcium blood level drops making less calcium available for fracture healing. Studies as early as documented that low vitamin D levels led to suboptimal fracture healing and the administration of vitamin D accelerated initial fracture callus mineralization.

Further, we now know that vitamin D, in conjunction with vitamin K, stimulates the transformation of fracture site stem cells to bone building osteoblasts. Overall, vitamin D is central to fracture healing and vitamin D status has been shown to be an independent predicator of functional recovery after hip fracture.

VITAMIN K is an essential part of the biochemical processes that bind calcium to bone and it is required for proper formation of the osteocalcin bone protein. In addition, vitamin K helps conserve calcium by reducing the loss of calcium in the urine.

Since it has been noted that vitamin K has a beneficial effect on fracture healing and has a real effect on all collagen tissues, especially bone tissue. Researchers have found that vitamin K is sequestered to the site of fracture resulting in markedly depressed circulating levels of vitamin K in fracture patients.

The time taken for the vitamin K blood level to return to normal appears to be influenced by the severity of the fracture. VITAMIN B6 is one of the B vitamins that has been linked to fracture healing. Animals deficient in this vitamin fracture more frequently and experience reduced fracture healing.

It appears that vitamin B6 modulates the effects of vitamin K on bone through complex biochemical pathways. Multi-nutrient therapy is the likely best approach Bone is complex tissue that requires many nutrients.

An Alkaline for Life® eating program stimulates bone repair The Alkaline for Life® eating program provides a diet rich in minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients obtained from vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds.

Herbal fracture healing aids Throughout history, and even today in much of the world, traditional herbal medicine has been the mainstay of medical practice.

Exercise and fracture healing Exercise is unlikely to pop into your mind as an important way to accelerate fracture healing — yet it is. htm Homeopathy, reiki, qi gong, polarity therapy, healing touch, acupuncture, and massage are all non-conventional energy healing modalities with applications for fracture healing.

Pain relievers and fracture healing Cells damaged from the trauma of fracture release large amounts of inflammatory prostaglandins at the site of fracture. Smoking Numerous studies document that smoking delays the healing process and increases morbidity associated with fracture. A further example from a study at Johns Hopkins University found that: Current and previous smokers were less likely to achieve union than non-smokers.

Current smokers were more than twice as likely to develop an infection. Previous smokers were 2. Alcohol abuse Alcohol in excess can be directly toxic to bone and alcohol abuse is associated with increases in both the incidence of fractures and complications of fracture healing, including infection.