Joy Onuorah

A healthy balanced diet will help you build healthy bones from an early age and maintain them throughout your life.

Below are best foods to build and maintain healthy bones:

Calcium

Adults need 700mg of calcium a day. You should be able to get all the calcium you need by eating a varied and balanced diet.

Good sources of calcium include:

• milk, cheese and other dairy foods
• green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage and okra, but not spinach
• soya beans
• tofu
• plant-based drinks (such as soya drink) with added calcium
• nuts
• bread and anything made with fortified flour
• fish where you eat the bones, such as sardines and pilchards

Vitamin D

Adults need 10 micrograms (400 International Units or IU) of vitamin D a day.

It’s difficult to get all the vitamin D we need from our diet and we get most of our vitamin D from the action of the sun on our skin.

Good sources of Vitamin D are:

• oily fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel
• egg yolks
• fortified foods, such as some fat spreads and breakfast cereals

Sources of calcium for vegans

• fortified soya, rice and oat drinks
• soya beans
• calcium-set tofu
• sesame seeds and tahini
• pulses
• brown and white bread (in the UK calcium is added to white and brown flour by law)
• dried fruit such as raisins, prunes, figs and dried apricots

Sources of Vitamin D for vegans

• fortified fat spreads, breakfast cereals and plant-based drinks such as soya drink (with vitamin D added)
• vitamin D supplements