Bones provide structure to the body, store calcium, anchor muscles, and protect organs. While it is vital to develop strong and healthy bones during infancy and adolescence, there are things you can do as an adult to build and maintain bone health. You can easily contribute to your bone health by making lifestyle changes and incorporating certain foods into your meal plan. This article lists foods that help strengthen bones and maintain their health.

• Cod liver oil and other vitamin D sources
  Vitamin D is essential for the bones, as its deficiency causes bone loss. It helps absorb calcium from the food one eats. This calcium fortifies the bones, making them more sturdy and resilient to movement and impact. A deficiency of this vitamin forces the body to release and dissolve calcium from the bones into the blood for circulation and nutrition distribution.

  Cod liver oil is a natural booster of vitamin D. It also contains healthy fats, which are essential for the vitamin’s absorption, as vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient. Other than cod liver oil, foods such as milk and breakfast cereals also contain fortified vitamin D. Fatty fish such as sardines, salmon, tuna, and mackerel are also pretty good sources of vitamin D. You should consume these foods regularly to strengthen your bones. Natural sunlight is also a good source of this element. Exposure to early morning sun rays also helps the body restore its vitamin D reserves. Normally, healthcare professionals advise clients to get this vitamin from natural sources like the ones listed above instead of purchasing supplements.

• Dairy foods like milk
  As alluded to above, milk is a potent source of vitamin D. However, milk’s list of benefits is far more extensive than that. Most importantly, milk and other dairy products such as butter, yogurt, and cheese are great sources of calcium. Calcium is among the main ingredients in milk-based foods, making them among the top bone-strengthening foods. To strengthen your bones, you can add Greek yogurt, cheese, butter, and other dairy sources to your meal regimen.
  
  Those who cannot digest milk or don’t like its taste can consume milk substitutes, including foods fortified with fat-soluble vitamins. That said, most lactose-intolerant people can tolerate small amounts of dairy products, especially those that don’t contain much lactose, such as aged cheese and ghee.

• Walnuts
  Nuts contain two essential elements that strengthen the bones: phosphorus and magnesium. Magnesium, like vitamin D, helps absorb and retain bone calcium. On the other hand, phosphorus, like calcium, is a critical component of the bones and teeth. About 85% of phosphorus is found in the bones and teeth alone.

  You can choose nuts like peanuts, hazelnuts, pecans, and groundnuts, but walnuts are a great choice as they are highly rich in calcium. This makes walnuts one of the ten foods to eat for healthy bones.

• Kale
  Leafy green vegetables qualify as perfect foods as they benefit every part and system within the body. People need to consume large amounts of darker green vegetables to reinforce bone strength. Dairy comes close to the amount of calcium these vegetables provide. You can consume foods such as Chinese cabbage, collard greens, and kale to obtain an incredible amount of calcium in your body.

  What’s more, dark-green vegetables are also loaded with vitamin K. This nutrient drastically reduces the possibility of developing osteoporosis, a health condition that involves the weakening and brittleness of bones.

• Grapefruit
  Like dark leafy greens, tart foods are also excellent for strengthening bones. You can consume grapefruit to increase the levels of vitamin C in your body. Vitamin C is a useful nutrient that helps reduce and, in many cases, completely prevent bone loss in people. A whole red or pink grapefruit contains about 88 milligrams of vitamin C. This large quantity of this vitamin helps sustain bone health for an entire day. So, consuming this fruit on a daily basis is a healthy idea.

Apart from these incredible foods, some other ones that are just as healthy for consumers’ bones are fortified orange juice, soybeans, figs, and others. These foods contain nutrients such as vitamins D and K, phosphorus, magnesium, and other elements that strengthen the bones and make them less brittle and porous.