6 Foods That Weaken Bones originally published by Caring.com

By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

What you eat plays a big role in whether you’re getting the nutrients you need to build strong bones. What might surprise you, though, is that your diet can also play a role in sapping bone strength. Some foods actually leach the minerals right out of the bone, or they block the bone’s ability to regrow. Here, the six biggest bone-sappers:

1. Salt
Salt saps calcium from the bones, weakening them over time. For every 2,300 milligrams of sodium you take in, you lose about 40 milligrams of calcium, dietitians say. One study compared postmenopausal women who ate a high-salt diet with those who didn’t, and the ones who ate a lot of salt lost more bone minerals. Our American diet is unusually salt-heavy; most of us ingest double the 2,300 milligrams of salt we should get in a day, according to the 2005 federal dietary guidelines.
What to do: The quickest, most efficient way to cut salt intake is to avoid processed foods. Research shows that most Americans get 75 percent of their sodium not from table salt but from processed food. Key foods to avoid include processed and deli meats, frozen meals, canned soup, pizza, fast food such as burgers and fries, and canned vegetables.

12 Foods With Super-Healing Powers

2. Soft drinks
Soft drinks pose a double-whammy danger to bones. The fizziness in carbonated drinks often comes from phosphoric acid, which ups the rate at which calcium is excreted in the urine. Meanwhile, of course, soft drinks fill you up and satisfy your thirst without providing any of the nutrients you might get from milk or juice.

What to do: When you’re tempted to reach for a cola, instead try milk, calcium- and vitamin D-fortified orange juice, or a fruit smoothie made with yogurt. Or just drink water when you’re thirsty, and eat a diet high in bone-building nutrients.

6 Foods That Weaken Bones originally appeared on Caring.com.

1 of 3

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Mel M.

6:57AM PST on Mar 6, 2012

Thanks you

send a green star

jayasri a.

4:00PM PST on Mar 4, 2012

Thank you! Good info! :

Mpa M.

3:59PM PST on Mar 4, 2012

Donna H.

10:54AM PST on Mar 4, 2012

Thanks for the info.

Gabriella B.

6:35PM PST on Feb 20, 2012

Good article and good advice. Many thanks

Vanessa S.

8:25AM PDT on Oct 4, 2011

Thanks for the info. More motivation for turning down the soft drinks. Everyone knows they are bad for you. They increase your chances for being overweight and destroy your teeth, among other things. Never knew that they could decrease bone density. I feel a little better about my occasional fruit smoothies :)

Judith E.

10:08AM PDT on Sep 18, 2011

Thank you! Good info! :D

jane r.

7:18PM PDT on May 14, 2011

thanks

D. M.

6:39AM PDT on Apr 19, 2011

Most of the article seems okay. I would use sea salt which really is A-Ok for most folks. It has a lot of essential trace minerals. Also eggs are always getting hit hard when they're really very healthy. Just buy from a local farmer where the chickens can scavenge out in the sun over a wide area. I would add too to use coconut oil, extra virgin, for all your cooking, especially frying. It has anti-viral and anti-fungal properties and is great for health; contains MCT's too, and helps in weight reduction.