Bone
Zone
Bones
Alive!
Here's
an interesting fact. Your bones are alive and
just like any other cell or tissue in your body,
they need to be fed too! Bones that grow well
will make you taller and stronger. Healthy bones
will also be able to support your body so that
you can be as active as you wish.
Bone
Food
Your bones are hard
and dense because they're packed with minerals
like calcium and phosphorus. To keep your bones
dense, you have to feed them with a regular supply
of calcium. You also need vitamin D, which builds
bones and helps them absorb calcium better.
But as long as you're
eating right, you don't have to take calcium or
vitamin D tablets. Just get your calcium from
milk, cheese, grain products, ikan bilis, soy
beans and certain vegetables, and your vitamin
D from the sun!
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Too
Much Calcium & Vitamin D
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If
you take calcium or vitamin D supplements,
you could get poisoning. Vitamin D poisoning
shows symptoms like loss of appetite
and nausea, and may lead to excessive
thirst, weakness, nervousness and high
blood pressure. Calcium poisoning may
cause permanent damage to your kidneys.
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Achy-Breaky Bones
Broken bones and aching
pain are what you may suffer later in life if you
don't take good care of your bones now.
You see, your bones
can only absorb minerals until you're about 30.
After that, your bones have to depend on the calcium
and phosphorus that you've stored up over the years.
If they don't have enough calcium, they'll snap
or fracture easily. This is a disease called osteoporosis.
It's a scary disease, because your bones might break
for no reason, or after just a minor fall.
The way to strengthen
your bones is to eat high-calcium foods (eg milk,
cheese and yoghurt), exercise regularly and not
smoke. And do so when you are young, not waiting
until you are 50 years old to start worrying about
osteoporosis.
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What's
the fuss about osteoporosis?
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- It
can strike you at any age,
although usually at a later age.
- Both
women and men are at
risk, although women are at a higher
risk.
-
Fair-skinned Asian & Caucasian
women with small builds are at
higher risk
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