Osteoporosis & Nutrition: Building Bones Through Diet and Lifestyle

We were joined by Olivia Warnes, Accredited Practicing Dietitian and Accredited Sports Dietitian, where we talked all about eating the correct foods and important lifestyle factors for healthy bones.

Listen here: 

Or keep reading for the key facts from our insightful conversation with her:  

How does diet influence bone health, both in preventing and managing osteoporosis? 

The key things are getting enough energy to ensure that the body is functioning properly and the bones aren't in a state where they're breaking down. This could be influenced by hormonal factors, but also from a nutrition perspective. Calcium and vitamin D are essential for bone health and vitamin D is essential for the absorption of calcium.

Vitamin D can be quite a challenge to obtain, particularly as it's not very easily obtained through food. So sunlight is our key source and during the winter months, this becomes a little more challenging. Sometimes I recommend preventative vitamin D supplementation during the winter months.

How would you approach educating patients about balancing diet supplements and lifestyle changes for their bone health? 

I take a holistic approach when it comes to management. I put a lot of value on bone loading exercise and ensuring they have the relevant support staff for an appropriate safe program whether it's physio or a strength and conditioning coach - because that's crucial.

Educating them on the key dietary sources, which is generally dairy foods to help them to be able to find ways of getting sufficient calcium through the day. We work with those that aren't big dairy fans to find appropriate alternatives. It’s about educating them on the key nutrients (Calcium, vitamin D and protein) and food sources that work for the individual. 

That could be integrating protein and calcium together as a neat little package after the bone loading or exercise session in the gym that helps promote the building of bone.

If you could suggest to someone just one or two small dietary changes to protect their bones, what would you recommend? 

Breakfast is a brilliant opportunity to get some calcium in. If you think about typical breakfast foods: for some people, it can be cereal and milk or yoghurt and fruit or whatever it might be. Or if you don’t like a sweet breakfast, could you have some feta with your eggs? Or can you have some cheese on your Vegemite and toast as well? Or, if you really want peanut butter on toast, you have a glass of milk or a milk Milo or make a smoothie. And integrating into snacks: can you have cheese and crackers? Or what about a yoghurt pouch? 

Finding moments throughout your day to integrate more sources of calcium is really important for strong bones. 

Can you give any advice for families who want to support bone health across the generations as well? 

The age that we achieve our peak bone mass is around 30 years of age. The younger population should be doing the best job possible right now to get as strong bones as you can, because after the age of 30 it can start to drop off.

When females are going through menopause or perimenopause, their oestrogen levels change and decline. Oestrogen is helpful for our bones. This is a great time to educate and explain the rationale for trying to integrate a bit more calcium into their diet 

If your parent was diagnosed with osteoporosis and you were struggling with getting the message across about lifestyle changes, what would you prioritise?

I'd be wanting to support my family members to be able to get into a programme with a physiotherapist or Strength for Life for example. 

I would encourage a discussion with their GP and work with them to ensure they're getting enough calcium. 

Are there any foods that are high in calcium that you think would surprise people? 

Tins of pink salmon - Tinned pink salmon has little edible bones in it. So a small tin of John West pink salmon, has around 300 milligrams of calcium, which is considered a serving of dairy. Equivalent to a tub of yoghurt or a glass of milk.

Tofu is actually quite high in calcium and can be integrated into different meals.

Dried figs are also surprisingly quite high in calcium!

We hope you enjoyed this conversation, look forward to our further podcasts and posts to come. 

Link to the podcast: Search "Good Country Physio" on Spotify

Helpful Resources: https://healthybonesaustralia.org.au/your-bone-health/calcium/

If you would like to learn more about Olivia’s expertise you can find her at sportsmed Stepney or view her website, Livwell Nutrition below: https://www.livwellnutrition.com.au/aboutus.html

Gabrielle Prider and Chelsea Holmes

4th Year Physiotherapy Students at the University of South Australia

Undertaking their Health Promotion placement at Good Country Physiotherapy, supervised by Angela Willsmore