NEP-102, New March 2002. Barbara Struempler, Extension Nutritionist, Professor, Nutrition and Food Science, Auburn University

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BE COOL With Strong Bones

Bones Are Alive

The skeleton inside you needs your help! All of your 206 bones are alive and need daily care. Bones are living, growing tissue, and they are always changing. Do your bones a favor. Take good care of them. Help your bones become the best they can be.

The 35-Year-Old Bone Bank Account

Until about age 35, your body is putting a lot of the mineral calcium in your bones. Most of this calcium is stored in the bones during the teen years, but this "banking" will continue until age 35. This means you have 35 years to make your 206 bones as strong as they can be.

The more calcium you store in your bones during the first half of your life, the less chance you have of bone breaks and problems during the second half of your life. Start making your bones strong today. Load up on calcium-rich foods and exercise your bones.

Osteo What?

When you have osteoporosis, your bones become brittle and break. Osteo means bone and porosis means holey. Let's look at a normal bone and an osteoporatic bone (Figure 1). With osteoporosis, calcium leaves your bones, making them weak. Bones with big holes are more easily broken than dense bones. It takes many decades to develop osteoporosis. It is most often seen in older individuals.

Figure 1. Normal bone [left] and osteoporotic bone [right]

Here is the catch about this older person's disease. Children and teens who get too little calcium and who are not physically active fail to build bones as strong as they could be. This makes them likely to get osteoporosis later in life. Remember, be cool with strong bones.

If removed, the calcium in our bodies would look like this much flour:

Amount of flour	Equals calcium in bones of
1/4 cup	Newborn baby
31/2 cups	10-year-old
7 cups	15-year-old
11 cups	Adult
6-1/2 cups	70-year-old person with osteoporosis

• Age 10: The amount of calcium is increased since birth. Why? Your bones are still growing!
• Age 15: Your body has grown and will grow even more. At this age, bones become longer and wider. Your body has twice as much calcium as it had at age 10.
• Adult: Your bones will grow even more. As an adult, you have 44 times more calcium than you had when you were born.
• Age 70: Osteoporosis cannot be detected until 30 to 40 percent of the bone is lost. You can see how great this calcium loss is by comparing the calcium in healthy adult bones to the calcium in older adult bones with osteoporosis.

Foods With Calcium

Foods High in Calcium	About How Much Calcium (milligrams)
Dairy foods with calcium
Milk (whole, 2%, 1%, nonfat, buttermilk), 8 ounces	300
Chocolate milk (2%, low fat), 8 ounces	300
Lactose-reduced milk, 8 ounces	300
Yogurt (regular, low fat, nonfat), 8 ounces	300 to 400
Natural cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, Swiss, colby), 1-1/2 ounces	300
Processed cheese (American), 2 ounces	300
Ice cream, soft serve, 1/2 cup	120
Frozen yogurt, 1/2 cup	100
Other foods with calcium
Collards, 1 cup	360
Calcium-fortified orange juice, 8 ounces	300
Broccoli, 1 cup	135
Orange	52
Bread, white or whole wheat, 1 slice	20

What Is Your Calcium mg?

A milligram, abbreviated as mg, is a very small amount (1/1000 of a gram) of a substance, in this case calcium. For healthy bones, you need so many milligrams (mg) of calcium every day.

Foods contain different amounts of calcium. If you know how many milligrams it takes to make your 206-bone skeleton strong, you can figure out what foods and how much of them you need every day.

How many milligrams of calcium do you need every day to make your bones healthy?

• A 4 to 8 year old needs 800 mg of calcium.
• A preteen (9 to 13 years old) needs1,300 mg of calcium.
• A teenager (14 to 18 years old) needs 1,300 mg of calcium.

Drink at Least 3--Maybe 4

Dairy foods are the best calcium finds. They are packed with calcium as well as other important nutrients.

If you are 4 to 8 years old, you can get 800 mg of calcium a day by having three servings from the dairy food group. For example:

Food	About How Much Calcium (mg)
2 8-ounce glasses milk (1 cup = 300 mg)	600
1-1/2 ounces cheese or 1 cup yogurt	300
Total	900
If you are 9 to 18 years of age, you can get 1,300 mg of calcium a day by having four servings from the dairy food group. For example:
Food	About How Much  Calcium (mg)
3 8-ounce glasses milk (1 cup = 300 mg)	900
1-1/2 ounces cheese or 1 cup yogurt	300
1/2 cup ice cream	120
Total	1,320 mg

Go figure. What is one serving from the dairy food group?

baseball = 1 cup yogurt

1 serving is equal to 8 ounces milk or yogurt 1-1/2 ounces cheese (cheddar, Swiss, mozzarella) 2 ounces processed American cheese 1 cup frozen yogurt or ice cream

1 big thumb = 1-1/2 ounces cheddar cheese

8 dice = 2 ounces processed cheese

6 dice = 11/2 ounces cheddar cheese

Blast Your Bone Blasts With a Bone Workout

Use it or lose it! Bone-building cells, called osteoblasts, get charged up with physical activity, especially weight-bearing activities. Weight-bearing activities put weight on your bones while you workout--they cause your muscles to work against gravity. Good weight-bearing activities are fast walking, running, dancing, basketball, in-line skating, soccer, running, tai chi, tennis, volleyball, and weight lifting. Although swimming and bicycling are great for your heart, they are not weight bearing exercises.

Recipe for a Milk Mustache Party

Ingredients

• 3 scoops vanilla ice cream
• Whole or 2% milk (just a little; gives a thicker mustache than lower-fat milks)
• Several good friends
• Couple of small mirrors

Directions

• Place ice cream in blender.
• Pour in enough milk to barely cover the ice cream.
• Blend until smooth.
• Invite your friends to sit around a table. Each can make a mustache by placing the cup between his or her lips and gently pouring the milk mixture onto the upper lip. For the best mustache, do not drink any of the milk mixture.
• Look in the mirror. Have each friend decide who has the best mustache.
• The winner gets the rest of the milk mixture to drink.

Lactose Intolerance

Has a doctor ever told you that you are lactose intolerant? Some people think they have this condition, but it is best to check with a doctor to be sure.

With lactose intolerance your body cannot use lactose, a sugar found in milk and other dairy foods. Stomach cramping and gas may result.

People with lactose intolerance usually can drink milk and eat other dairy products without problems. They need to drink smaller amounts of milk more often throughout the day. It also is helpful to drink this milk with meals. The same suggestion goes for other dairy products such as yogurt and cheese.

For those who cannot tolerate any milk, get calcium from nondairy foods such as broccoli and calcium-fortified orange juice. People with lactose intolerance also can use lactose-reduced or lactose-free products. Many of these foods are found in the dairy section at the grocery store

Milk Is Fattening? Think Again A 12-ounce soft drink has more calories than a 12-ounce glass of fat-free milk. Move over whole milk! Use 1% or less. A cup of any milk (whole, 2%, 1%, or nonfat) is packed with the same amount of calcium--only the calories, all from fat, differ. One cup of nonfat milk (90 calories) has half the calories of whole milk (180 calories). Go figure.

Sources

• Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium, National Academy of Sciences, 1997
• St. Louis District Dairy Council
• Nutritive Value of Foods (PNW-357), Pacific Northwest Cooperative Extension, 1992