The development and bone growth is a process that takes place from the womb to the last days of life of the individual. A whole life so the bone can be enhanced or, conversely, to not reach their optimal development and will gradually weaken.
1. The diet is key to long life
In this complex process, bone tissue has an array of nutritional requirements that will be covered thanks to the individual to ingest food.
From this point of view, pharmacology or supplementation are minor and that, if necessary, will be so for only short periods of time and, of course, can never replace what food should be provided since the birth of the individual or even earlier.
It is known that to adequately feed from early childhood brings great benefits in terms of health, including bone, and quality of life. It is therefore necessary to always emphasize the importance of nutrition education.
2. Pregnancy and lactation
During pregnancy and lactation produced a series of physiological and environmental constraints make it necessary to bring food contributions and lifestyles of this special situation impact on mother and child.
The change in the nutritional needs and, in particular, changes in phospho-calcium balance was largely due to hormonal changes that serve as substrate for all the processes of synthesis and maternal-fetal adaptation that develop along pregnancy, fetal maturation and during lactation to feed the child, always with the priority needs of the fetus or infant.
As a result of the changes that take place before fetal skeletal mineralization is favored progressive retention of calcium to meet the increasingly growing demand for fetal skeletal mineralization. Most of the works consulted during lactation indicate that bone mass is lost, studies show that in the early months of breastfeeding reduces the mother’s bone density between 3 and 5%, especially in the spine and hip , recovering the cessation of breastfeeding.
At this stage we recommend the consumption of milk and dairy products to ensure a proper calcium RDA (3-4 servings / day and preferably suitable fat or skim). Dairy products are a good way of incorporating nutritional amounts of vitamins and polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially in women with incomplete dietary profiles.
No need for pharmacological supplementation of vitamin D, since a normal balanced diet and sun exposure allow adequate synthesis of this vitamin. Nor is recommended supplementation with vitamin A, or the additional intake of food especially rich in it, such as liver, cod liver oil, etc., the recommendations for vitamin A can be met through consumption of dairy, eggs and vegetable foods rich in provitamin A. It is also essential to take daily five servings of fruits or vegetables in season.
1 Trackback to “Nutrition and Bone Health I”