When did you last give your bones a second thought?
For most of us, the answer is “not often”. Bones hold us up, carry us through busy days and let us do the things we love, so it’s easy to take them for granted. But the bone you build and keep in your 20s, 30s and 40s is what carries you through the decades that follow, so the sooner you start looking after it, the better.
The good news is that your bones are living tissue, and your body keeps renewing them for as long as you live. That means what you eat and how you move still make a difference, whatever your age.
By the end of this guide, you’ll know how your bones stay strong, which five nutrients matter most, and the three daily habits with the best evidence behind them. You’ll also have a simple daily protocol and a realistic idea of what to expect, and when.
How It Works: Your Bones Are Alive
It’s easy to picture bones as solid and unchanging, like the frame of a house. In fact, your skeleton is busy all the time. Old bone is broken down and cleared away by one team of cells, while another team lays down fresh bone in its place. This constant renovation keeps your bones strong and repairs the tiny bits of wear and tear that come with everyday life.
Bone itself is made of two main parts. A protein called collagen forms a flexible framework, a bit like the steel rods inside reinforced concrete. Minerals, mainly calcium, fill in around that framework and make it hard and strong. You need both: the framework gives bone a little flex, so it doesn’t snap, and the minerals give it strength.
When you’re young, the building team works faster than the clearing team, so your bones fill up with more and more minerals and grow stronger. How tightly packed with minerals your bones are is called bone density. Your bones are at their strongest at around the age of 30.1 After that, the balance gradually shifts and you start to lose a little more than you make. This is a natural part of getting older, and it’s why looking after your bones matters more as the years go on.
For women, menopause speeds this up. As levels of the hormone oestrogen fall, bone can be lost a little faster, around 2% a year, mostly in the few years around your last period.1 That makes midlife a really good time to give your bones some extra attention, and there’s a lot you can do. We explain more about what’s happening in our Menopause guide.
Bones need two things from you: the right building materials, and a reason to stay strong.
The Nutrients That Support Your Bones
Here’s where your plate comes in. Some of these nutrients have decades of research behind them; for others the studies are fewer, but the picture is still worth knowing. You’ll notice the hip and spine come up a lot. That’s not because they need more nutrients than other bones. They’re the main places checked on a bone density scan, and hip fractures are among the most serious breaks in later life.
Calcium: Your Bones’ Building Material
What it does: Calcium is what gives your bones their hardness, and most of the calcium in your body is stored in your skeleton. Your body also needs a steady supply of calcium for other jobs, so if you don’t get enough from food, it borrows from your bones.
What the research says: In 2019, researchers looked at trials involving almost 50,000 people. Those who took calcium and vitamin D supplements together every day had 6% fewer fractures, and 16% fewer hip fractures.2 Most research looks at calcium alongside vitamin D rather than on its own.
Where to find it: Milk, cheese and yoghurt, plant-based drinks with added calcium, tofu, green leafy vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage, nuts, and fish where you eat the bones, such as tinned sardines. Adults need 700 milligrams of calcium a day.3 That’s easier to reach than it sounds. A glass of milk (200 millilitres), a matchbox-sized piece of hard cheese and a pot of yoghurt each give you around 240 milligrams, so three of them covers a day. If you don’t eat dairy, a glass of calcium-enriched plant drink or half a tin of sardines gives you the same.3 If you struggle to get enough from food, a calcium supplement can fill the gap, ideally one that also contains vitamin D.3
Vitamin D: The Key That Lets Calcium In
What it does: Vitamin D helps your body absorb the calcium from your food and use it to keep your bones healthy. Without it, calcium can’t do its job.
What the research says: That same 2019 study found that vitamin D on its own didn’t make a difference to fractures. The benefit only showed up when it was paired with calcium,2 which is why it’s best to think of the two as a team.
Where to find it: Your skin makes most of your vitamin D from sunlight. Food sources are few, but they help: oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel, egg yolks, and foods with added vitamin D, such as some breakfast cereals and spreads. Adults need just 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day, which is a tiny amount (a microgram is a millionth of a gram). The tricky part is actually getting that much: few foods contain it, and in autumn and winter UK sunlight isn’t strong enough for your skin to make it. That’s why dietitians advise all adults to consider a daily vitamin D supplement, especially in autumn and winter.3 We look at vitamin D in more depth in our Winter Resilience guide.
Vitamin K: Calcium’s Helper
What it does: Vitamin K helps keep your bones healthy. It switches on a protein that helps lock calcium into your bones.
There are two main forms. Vitamin K1 comes from green leafy vegetables. Vitamin K2 comes from fermented foods and some animal foods, and it’s the form that showed the clearest results in the research.
What the research says: A 2024 study that brought together 17 trials found that vitamin K supplements, especially K2, improved bone density in the lower spine, particularly in women.4 The results at the hip were less clear, so there’s more to learn.
Where to find it: You’ll find K1 in leafy greens like kale, spinach and broccoli, and K2 in foods like hard cheese, eggs and sauerkraut. Vitamin K2 is also available as a supplement. If you take blood-thinning medicine, check with your GP or pharmacist before making big changes to how much vitamin K you eat.
Magnesium: The Mineral Your Bones Store
What it does: Magnesium helps keep your bones healthy, and some of it sits right alongside calcium in your skeleton, as part of the mineral structure of bone.
What the research says: Most of what we know comes from looking at what people already eat, rather than from supplements. A 2016 study that pulled together 12 earlier studies found that people who ate more magnesium had slightly higher bone density at the hip, though not the spine, and no clear difference in fracture risk.5 The link is small, but magnesium-rich foods are good for you in plenty of other ways.
Where to find it: Nuts and seeds (especially pumpkin seeds and almonds), wholegrains such as oats and brown rice, green leafy vegetables, beans and lentils.
Protein: The Framework Builder
What it does: Protein helps keep your bones healthy and helps you hold on to your muscle. Remember that flexible collagen framework? Collagen is a protein, so your body needs a regular supply of protein to build and repair it. And your muscles are what move and support your skeleton.
What the research says: A 2019 study that pulled together 13 earlier studies of people aged 65 and over found that those who ate more protein than the standard daily guideline (about 56 grams a day for someone weighing 11 stone) had denser bones at the hip and 11% fewer hip fractures.6 A larger 2019 study, covering adults of all ages, was more cautious: in healthy adults who already get enough, eating extra protein made little difference to bone, though it did no harm either.7 So the aim is simply to get enough, especially in later life.
Where to find it: Fish, eggs, dairy, lean meat and poultry, beans, lentils, tofu, nuts and seeds. A simple way to get enough is to include some protein at every meal.
Three Habits That Keep Your Bones Strong
Food supplies the raw materials, but bones only build where they’re asked to. That’s where these three habits come in.
Strength and Impact Exercise: Give Your Bones a Reason to Stay Strong
Bones respond to the demands you put on them. When your muscles pull on your bones, or your feet hit the ground, it sends a signal to the building team to lay down more bone.
In a well-run 2018 Australian trial, 101 women past menopause, around 65 and with low bone density, did two 30-minute sessions of strength and impact exercise (such as lifting weights and small jumps) a week for eight months. Their bone density in the lower spine went up by 2.9%, while women doing gentle exercise at home lost 1.2%. They also got stronger and steadier on their feet.8
You don’t need a gym to start. UK bone experts recommend this even for people who already have osteoporosis: strength exercises, like lifting weights, using resistance bands or carrying heavy shopping, on two or three days a week, plus short bursts of impact, like jogging, jumping, dancing or ball games.9 If you already have low bone density, ask your GP or a physiotherapist which exercises are right for you.
Safe Sunlight: Your Natural Vitamin D Source
Most of your vitamin D is made in your skin when it’s exposed to sunlight. Researchers at the University of Manchester found that from October to early March, UK sunlight is too weak for your skin to make much vitamin D at all. So the spring and summer months are when it counts.10
A walk outside at lunchtime is a good habit. Little and often is all you need, so there’s no need to sunbathe. Just keep your skin protected on longer days, with sunscreen or a hat.
Balance: Staying Steady on Your Feet
Good balance protects all the work you put into your bones, and like any skill, it’s easier to keep than to win back.
A large 2019 review looked at more than 100 trials involving over 23,000 people aged 60 and over. Regular exercise cut falls by around a quarter, and simple balance exercises, like standing on one leg or walking heel to toe, did just as well.11
Balance is a skill, and it improves with practice. Yoga, Pilates and dance all train it, and so does standing on one leg while you brush your teeth.
Your Bone-Strong Protocol
Simple ways to feed, move and steady your body, built into an ordinary day.
MORNING: Nourish and steady
- Porridge made with milk or a plant drink with added calcium, or Greek yoghurt with nuts and seeds, gives you calcium, magnesium and protein in one bowl.
- If you take calcium, vitamin D or K2, have it with breakfast. Calcium is absorbed best with food.
- Stand on one leg while you brush your teeth, then swap. Too easy? Try it with your eyes closed.
MIDDAY: Build and get outside
- Aim for protein and greens. Sardines on wholegrain toast, or a salad with eggs, beans, spinach and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds, covers several nutrients at once.
- From April to September, a short walk in the daylight helps your skin make vitamin D. Cover up before you start to burn.
- A small handful of almonds or a pot of yoghurt.
- If you take a magnesium supplement, the afternoon is a good time for it.
EVENING: Strengthen and restore
- Meals built around fish, lean meat, tofu or lentils with plenty of leafy greens keep the building materials coming.
- Some hard cheese with dinner, or a spoonful of sauerkraut on the side.
EVERY WEEK
- Weights, resistance bands, a strength class or heavy gardening on at least two days.
- Brisk walking, dancing, stair climbing or running all count.
- Salmon, mackerel, sardines or trout, for vitamin D and protein.
What to expect, month by month
Months 1 to 3
Your new habits start to feel natural. Strength and balance are often the first things to improve, so stairs, workouts, stairs and carrying heavy bags may start to feel easier.
Months 3 to 6
Your muscles keep getting stronger and you’ll likely feel steadier on your feet. Underneath, your bones are being renewed all the time, and the work you give them counts.
Months 6 to 12
Bone renews slowly, so you won’t feel the changes, but the steady habits you’ve built are doing their work.
Final Thoughts
Your skeleton has been rebuilding itself since the day you were born, and it isn’t about to stop now. That’s the hopeful truth at the heart of bone health: whatever your age, the bone you’ll be standing on in a few years’ time is still being made.
So give it what it needs. Calcium-rich foods and some protein at every meal, a little sunshine in the warmer months, and plenty of greens, nuts and seeds along the way. Then give it a reason to stay strong: lift something heavy twice a week, keep moving most days and practise standing steady.
None of this has to happen at once. Pick one thing from the protocol this week, and add another when it feels easy. Small, steady steps are what your bones respond to best.
References:
[1] The Menopause Charity. Let’s talk about bone health. Link
[2] Yao P, Bennett D, Mafham M, Lin X, Chen Z, Armitage J, Clarke R. Vitamin D and calcium for the prevention of fracture: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(12). Link
[3] British Dietetic Association. Osteoporosis: Food Fact Sheet. 2023. Link
[4] Xie C, Gong J, Zheng C, Zhang J, Gao J, Tian C, Guo X, Dai S, Gao T. Effects of vitamin K supplementation on bone mineral density at different sites and bone metabolism in the middle-aged and elderly population: a meta-analysis and systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Bone & Joint Research. 2024;13(12). Link
[5] Farsinejad-Marj M, Saneei P, Esmaillzadeh A. Dietary magnesium intake, bone mineral density and risk of fracture: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Osteoporosis International. 2016;27(4). Link
[6] Groenendijk I, den Boeft L, van Loon LJC, de Groot LCPGM. High versus low dietary protein intake and bone health in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal. 2019;17. Link
[7] Darling A, Manders RJ, Shani S, Zhu K, Hewitt CE, Prince RL, Millward J, Lanham-New S. Dietary protein and bone health across the life-course: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis over 40 years. Osteoporosis International. 2019;30(4). Link
[8] Watson SL, Weeks BK, Weis LJ, Harding AT, Horan SA, Beck BR. High-intensity resistance and impact training improves bone mineral density and physical function in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and osteoporosis: the LIFTMOR randomized controlled trial. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 2018;33(2). Link
[9] Brooke-Wavell K, Skelton DA, Barker KL, Clark EM, De Biase S, Arnold S, Paskins Z, Robinson KR, Lewis RM, Tobias JH, Ward KA, Whitney J, Leyland S. Strong, steady and straight: UK consensus statement on physical activity and exercise for osteoporosis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2022;56(15). Link
[10] Webb AR, Kift RC, Durkin M, O’Brien S, Vail A, Berry JL, Rhodes LE. The role of sunlight exposure in determining the vitamin D status of the U.K. white adult population. British Journal of Dermatology. 2010;163. Link
[11] Sherrington C, Fairhall NJ, Wallbank GK, Tiedemann A, Michaleff ZA, Howard K, Clemson L, Hopewell S, Lamb SE. Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2019;(1). Link
