A good diet is only one of the building blocks for healthy bones, which also includes physical activity and avoiding certain risk factors.
General population
Adults need 700mg of calcium a day. You should be able to get all the calcium you need by eating a varied and balanced diet.
Good sources of calcium include:
milk, cheese and other dairy foods
green leafy vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage and okra, but not spinach
soya beans
tofu
soya drinks with added calcium
nuts
bread and anything made with fortified flour
fish where you eat the bones, such as sardines and pilchards
Although spinach might appear to contain a lot of calcium, it also contains oxalic acid, which reduces calcium absorption, and it is therefore not a good source of calcium.
It’s difficult to get all the vitamin D we need from our diet and we get most of our vitamin D from the action of the sun on our skin.
Short daily periods of sun exposure without sunscreen from late March/April to the end of September are enough for most people to make enough vitamin D.
However, everyone is advised to consider taking a daily Vitamin D supplement.
Good sources of vitamin D:
oily fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel
eggs
fortified fat spreads
fortified breakfast cereals
some powdered milks
