Seminar on “Love Your Bones, Protect these from breaking by taking proper diet”

Ludhiana: A seminar “Love Your Bones, Protect these from breaking by taking proper diet” was held on the “World Osteoporosis Day” at Neeta Dewan Diet Guide Centre, Dewan Hospital. Dt Neeta Dewan said that osteoporosis attacks silently and one comes to know of the problem only when a bone breaks due to relatively minor trauma or the person starts having sever pain in bones or develops deformities like bending of back bone. Bones are living organs of our body which keep dissolving and reforming constantly. When more bone is lost and less new bone is formed the bones become weak and fragile. She told that one in two women and one in four men, after the age of 40 years of age are likely to suffer from broken bones due to osteoporosis. The most common sites are back bone, hip bone (neck of femur) and wrist bone. Pictures depicting normal and osteoporotic thin bone and common sites of fractures were shown. Causative factors of osteoporosis were enumerated by her. These included Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis; Smoking; Gastric bypass surgery commonly being done for obesity; Malignancies like leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, cancer breast and cancer prostate; Endocrinal diseases like diabetes, hyperparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism, Cushing syndrome and menopause; Chronic renal failure; malnutrition; rapid weight loss and medicines like antacids, steroids antiepileptic drugs, cancer chemotherapy and diuretics. Dt Neeta Dewan said that bone is basically constituted by Calcium, Magnesium and Phosphorus. Vitamin D, Vitamin C and proteins are required to fix these elements to constitute strong bones. So, we have to ensure adequate intake of these ingredients. She said that daily requirement of calcium is 800 to 1000 mg while it increases to 1000 to 1200 mg in menopausal women and 1300 mg in pregnant women. Calcium plays a major role not only in the strength of bones but also in the functioning of heart, nerves and blood clotting in our body. When the supply of calcium is short it is mobilized from our bones for these important functions of our body and this further makes our bones weak. Rich sources of calcium include dairy products like milk, yoghurt and cheese; green leafy vegetable like broccoli, kale, dried figs, mustard and turnip greens; Fish especially salmon and sardines; nuts like almonds and Brazil nuts; and enriched foods like juices with adder calcium. Some compounds in our food interfere with the absorption of calcium from out intestine so, the person may suffer from calcium deficiency in spite of adequate calcium intake. These substances are Phytic acid present in raw beans, seeds, wheat bran and grains. One should soak the beans overnight and discard the water used for soaking to reduce the amount of phytic acid in beans like rajmaah. One must not add much salt in food as high levels of sodium too interfere with calcium absorption. Caffeine and alcohol are other important things interfering in calcium absorption. Vitamin D is essential for the proper utilization of calcium in bones. Rich sources of vitamin D are exposure to ultraviolet rays of Sun and from diet. One should expose one hands, face, arms or back to Sun for fifteen minutes to Sun without applying Sunscreen. Sunscreen block ultraviolet rays and so Vitamin D is not formed in our body. Best sources of vitamin D in our diet are fortified milk, fish especially salmon mackerel and tuna and egg yolk. Phosphorus is also essential to strong bones and is available from dairy products, meat, baked goods, cereals, egg, nuts and fish. Requirement of magnesium can be met from spinach, potato, sweat potato and raisins. Adequate proteins and vitamin C intake is also a must for stronger bones. In the end she gave the slogan “Love Your Bones, Protect these from breaking by taking proper diet”.