Most people rightly think of too little calcium as a cause of osteoporosis, but too much sodium is another culprit. The more sodium you excrete, the more calcium the lose. No one knows if the sodium pulls calcium out of your bones, or compels your kidneys to excrete it. That's okay if you consume enough enough calcium to compensate for the loss, but most people don't. Reducing sodium intakes to about 1600 mg a day would lower the calcium we excrete by about a third, notes Goulding.
Excess sodium is as important a calcium-waster as excess protein.
And it's not just older folks who should be concerned. The best strategy for avoiding osteoporosis is to build up your bone mass before the age of 35. Many men over the age of 50 risk developing osteoporosis, or brittle bone disease, usually thought of as affecting only women, the British National Osteoporosis Society said. The Society said 1 in 12 older men developed the disease, which can cause broken bones and dramatic loss of height. The charity said British men suffered about 12,000 hip and 10,000 spinal fractures every year.