Everyone should make sure they get enough of these two nutrients, but especially those at risk for osteoporosis. Attention to diet and exercise are important not only for treatment, but also for prevention. His prevention clinic is staffed by a physical therapist, a nutritionist, and a nurse, who help people increase their physical activity, improve their diets, and make their homes safer by reducing the risk of falling. But calcium alone can't build bone. Without vitamin D, calcium isn't sufficiently absorbed.
Most people get enough vitamin D because skin produces it in sunlight.
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, Recker says, is that they simply don't eat much.