Tips for improving your child’s bone health
Encouraging your children to live a healthy lifestyle and ensuring that their bodies receive all of the necessary nutrients can help them maintain strong and sturdy bone health. Here are some important pointers to assist you to keep your child’s bones healthy.
Our bones and joints provide the basic support structure of our bodies and play an important function in preserving our organs, maintaining our muscles, and storing calcium. As a result, bone care is critical for our bodies. Parents are frequently concerned about their child’s physical and emotional well-being, and they cannot afford to neglect their child’s bone health.
During childhood and adolescence, your child’s bones become bigger and stronger, and bone density develops quickly. Once your child enters adulthood, i.e., the age range of 18-25, he/she achieves “peak bone mass” and their bone density stops developing because 90% of their bone mass has already been developed. As a result, it is critical for parents to incorporate good and nutritious foods into their child’s diet.
In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Sagar Bhattad, Consultant – Paediatric Immunology and Rheumatology at Aster CMI Hospital in Bangalore, highlighted, “Weak bones not only increase the risk of injuries and fractures but also lead to diseases like osteoporosis and rickets in children at an early age. Encouraging your child to live a healthy lifestyle and ensuring that their body receives all of the necessary nutrients will aid in the maintenance of robust and sturdy bone health.”
He offered the following key tips to assist you to maintain your child’s bone health:
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Increase your intake of vitamin D.
Vitamin D is crucial for bone health and assists the body in absorbing calcium. Vitamin D insufficiency is frequent in both children and adults. Several studies have shown that low vitamin D levels cause reduced bone density and an increased risk of bone loss. As a result, an abundance of Vitamin D helps protect your youngster against bone problems. There are various simple methods you may take to enhance your vitamin D consumption –
- Increased sunlight exposure and make sure your youngster gets at least 5 to 10 minutes of sunlight on your hands, legs, and face two to three days a week.
- Encourage your child to eat supplements such as cheese, liver, and fatty fish. These can also be provided to children in the form of sandwiches, pasta, and so on.
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Make that your child gets enough calcium.
Calcium is well known to have a crucial part in bone production and is essential for muscle strength and heart function. Calcium is abundant in dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yoghurt. As parents, we must guarantee that our children take at least two glasses of milk per day, which is necessary for bone formation. You should also include a bowl of curd/yoghurt in your child’s meal at least once a day, as well as green vegetables like spinach, kale, and okra. Aside from supplying Vitamin C, oranges are also a wonderful source of calcium and a more enjoyable approach to enhancing your child’s calcium consumption. Soybeans and their products, such as soy milk, soy yoghurt, and fish, are also good sources of calcium.
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Magnesium and vitamin K for optimum bone density
It has been discovered that people who consume more Vitamin K and Magnesium have good bone density and are less prone to bone illnesses such as rickets and osteoporosis. These vitamins work with calcium to strengthen your child’s bones. Green vegetables such as spinach, kale, cabbage, and green sprouts are high in vitamin K and magnesium, so creating a habit of eating cereals and a full breakfast in your child at a young age might help them obtain enough magnesium and other minerals.
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Encourage your youngster to avoid the automated life in order to have a healthier future.
Everything is now accessible with the click of a button on our phones in the digital age. As more children become addicted to cell phones and computer games, they are increasingly confined to their sofas and avoid physical interactions with their peers. Such practices are increasing the prevalence of bone illnesses in youngsters and have increased their requirement for physical activity. Activities such as walking, jogging, running, and climbing stairs can help your child create stronger bones and keep their mind and body engaged. These workouts can assist the body in boosting bone cell formation. Finally, if your child has significant bone problems and the symptoms do not go away after a few days or weeks, you should see a doctor.
