Diet Counselling
Eating healthy food is important for maintaining bone health. Filling your plate with Calcium, Vitamin B12, Magnesium and Vitamin D rich food will help prevent musculoskeletal injuries such as osteoporotic fractures. At Spinalogy clinic, we navigate the patient with the nutrition guidelines and advice what to eat and what not to eat in order to stay healthy.
Let’s take a simpler approach and focusing on 3 main nutrients for bone health – Calcium, Vitamin D, Magnesium.
Calcium is essential throughout your life to maintain bone structure, sending nerve impulses and even maintaining the heart beats. If you don’t consume enough calcium, you become more susceptible to osteoporosis and fractures. The amount of calcium needed by a human body varies according to one’s age. The table given below will help you understand how much calcium you should be consuming daily for a healthy lifestyle:
Age Group Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) per day
Children 1-3 years - 700 mg
Children 4-8 years - 1000 mg
Children 9-18 year - 1300 mg
Adults 19-50 years - 1000 mg
Adults 51- 70 years Men: 1000 mg, Women: 1200 mg
Adults 70+ years - 1200 mg
For children below 1 year of age, there is a defined intake of calcium. The children belonging to the age group 0 to 6 months or infants, the 200 mg/day is an adequate intake, and for those aged from 7-12 months, it is 260 mg/day.
Vit D is also known as sunshine Vitamin as sunshine helps to synthesize this hormone. Inadequate exposure to sunlight may cause vitamin D deficiency. Deficiency impairs bone mineralization, causing rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults and may contribute to osteoporosis. Vitamin D has two main forms: D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol). Vitamin D3 is synthesized in skin by exposure to sunlight (ultraviolet radiation) and obtained in the diet chiefly in fish liver oils and egg yolks.
Along with calcium and Vitamin D, to help your muscles and nerves function properly, Magnesium is needed. It also regulates body’s use of vitamin d and Calcium. Legumes, nuts, sesame seeds, chia seed, whole grain products are rich in magnesium.
Apart from above three important elements, Vitamin B12 and Zinc deficiency also plays important role in muscle pains. Our diet counsellors help patient with simple and straight forward dietary guidelines to keep your musculature and bones strong for life long healthy movements.
