The higher your bone mass, the more bone you have stored for later in life. An important factor in fighting osteoporosis and maximizing your bone mass is getting enough calcium and vitamin D throughout your life. It is recommended that people ages 31 to 50 get 1,000 milligrams of calcium each day, and those over 50 get 1,200 milligrams a day. Three to four servings a day from the dairy group is approximately 1,200 milligrams. Your body must have vitamin D in order to absorb calcium.
Exercise is also essential to building strong bones.
It is never too late to start exercising, but it is best to begin young and continue throughout your life. Exercises such as Tai Chi may be helpful for balance and preventing falls. Because bone loss exhibits few or no symptoms during its early stages, early detection is also important in fighting osteoporosis. This test uses an imager that passes over your body and delivers a tiny dose of radiation to determine the solidity of your bones. Smaller, portable and less expensive devices for testing bone density are also available, such as the peripheral DEXA, which just measures the bone density of the arm, or the Sahara Clinical Bone Sonometer, which uses sound waves to measure the bone density in the heel of the foot.