Without vitamin D, calcium isn't sufficiently absorbed. Most people get enough vitamin D because skin produces it in sunlight. But people confined indoors who have a poor diet, which includes many older Americans or who live in northern latitudes in winter may be deficient. A lifelong habit of weightbearing exercise, such as walking or biking, also helps build and maintain strong bone. The greatest benefit for older people is that physical fitness reduces the risk of fracture, because better balance, muscle strength, and agility make falls less likely.
Exercise also provides many other life-enhancing psychological and cardiovascular benefits.
Increased activity can aid nutrition, too, because it boosts appetite, which is often reduced in older people. The biggest reason older people don't get enough calcium, is they simply don't eat much. Osteoporosis has been described as an adolescent disease with a geriatric onset, highlighting the importance of beginning to take steps in exercise and diet early in life to reduce its disabling impact in later years. Reducing Your Risk A host of factors can affect your chances of developing osteoporosis. The good news is that you control some of them.