When it comes to building strong bones and keeping your joints healthy, it’s not only about drinking milk or popping a single supplement. Our bodies need a mix of essential nutrients, especially the right vitamins for bones, to keep our skeleton strong and resilient at every age. Everyone knows how important calcium is for bone health, but there are plenty of other nutrients that play a big part too.
From food choices to supplements, this guide will help you understand which nutrients matter most, how to get them, and what to look for in bone health supplements – so you can keep your bones and joints in top shape for years to come.
Why Bone Health Matters
Your bones are actually living tissue. We don’t know it but they’re constantly being broken down and rebuilt. So it’s our duty to keep nourishing them. As you get older, especially after 30, you naturally start to lose more bone than you’re able to build. This makes it crucial to focus on the right nutrients and vitamins for strong bones and joints to strengthen the bones and prevent problems like osteoporosis later in life.
Calcium: The Building Blocks of Bones
We can’t discuss bones without explaining calcium. Our bones are literally made of calcium – 99% of our body’s calcium reserve is in the bones. That’s why we’ve all heard about drinking milk for stronger bones and teeth – it’s less about the milk and more about the calcium that milk is abundant in. We need a lot of calcium in childhood and adolescence to support bone health as that’s the stage of life when our bones are growing rapidly. Similarly during pregnancy and lactation (1).
If we don’t get enough calcium, our body will start taking it from the bones, weakening them over time. That’s why calcium deficiency can cause the bones to thin and become brittle. This increases our risk of breaking or fracturing bones.
Role: Primary building block that forms our bones and teeth.
RDA: UK adults need about 700mg per day.
Food Sources: Dairy (milk, cheese, yoghurt), green leafy vegetables (broccoli, cabbage), tofu, nuts, and fish with edible bones (like sardines).
Vitamin D: The Calcium Magnet
Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins for bones. This is the sunshine vitamin – our body produces vitamin D3 when sunlight hits our skin. And vitamin D2 is found in certain mushrooms and plants. But our primary source of this vitamin is the sun, which is a little hard to get in the UK. With our mostly sunless and cloudy skies, vitamin D deficiency is common in the UK. Studies have found that people in the UK have severe vitamin D deficiency by the end of summer (2). So bone health supplements that include vitamin D are the way to go to get our fill.
Vitamin D solves the question of “how to strengthen bones” by helping us better absorb the calcium we get from our foods and regulate the blood levels of calcium to prevent excess. It also supports our muscles and immune functioning. Having strong muscles is important for good balance, which helps prevent falls and broken bones. Not getting enough vitamin D can cause osteoporosis in adults and rickets in children, making bones weak, soft, or deformed.
Role: Helps your body absorb calcium from food.
RDA: People in the UK are recommended to get about 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D daily. But since sunlight is scarce here and foods don’t satisfy this requirement, it’s best to take vitamin D supplements.
Sources: Oily fish (salmon, mackerel), eggs, fortified foods, and sunlight on your skin.
Other Essential Nutrients for Bones
There are some more nutrients and vitamins for strong bones and joints that enhance the work of calcium and vitamin D.
1. Magnesium: This mineral helps build and harden bones and plays a role in keeping bones dense and strong. It’s also crucial for producing ATP, the main energy source of our cells. Low magnesium levels lead to a decrease in bone density. Magnesium deficiency is linked with the development of osteoporosis (softening of bones leading to changes in structure of bones) and osteopenia (loss of bone density) (3).
RDA: 300 mg/day for adult men and 270 mg/day for adult women.
Food Sources: Dark chocolate, nuts and seeds, lentils, beans and peas, fruits like bananas and avocado, leafy greens like kale and spinach.
2. Vitamin K: This is an underrated vitamin in the conversation of bone health. Vitamin K activates a special protein in your bones called “osteocalcin”, which acts like glue to stick calcium into your bone structure. This makes your bones stronger and less likely to break, especially as you get older or if you have conditions like osteoporosis. Basically, vitamin K helps make sure the calcium you eat actually ends up in your bones, where it’s needed most.
RDA: You should have the same number of micrograms of vitamin K as your body weight. So, if you weight about 70 kg, you would need 70 micrograms of vitamin K daily.
Food Sources: Green leafy veggies like broccoli and spinach, fruits like avocado and kiwi, vegetable oils, cereal grains.
3. Vitamin B6: This vitamin supports the formation of collagen, the protein framework that gives bones their structure and strength. Without enough vitamin B6, bones can become weaker and more likely to break, as the collagen cross-linking process is disrupted. People with higher vitamin B6 levels tend to have better bone density and a lower risk of fractures, especially in older adults.
RDA: 1.4 mg/day for adult men and 1.2 mg/day for adult women.
Food Sources: Pork, poultry, peanuts, soya beans, oats, bananas.
4. Protein: We all know proteins as the building blocks of our body. So of course they’re a significant part of our bones’ structure too – laying the foundation on which calcium can build up the bones. Protein is also important for strong muscles, which will indirectly support our bones. But protein isn’t everything, we need to take it along with calcium and vitamin D for optimal bone health.
RDA: 55.5 g/day for adult men and 45 g/day for adult women.
Food Sources: Dairy products, fish, poultry, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and some vegetables like corn, broccoli, asparagus.
How to Select the Right Supplements
Choosing supplements for bone health depends on your individual needs, age, and diet. But most importantly, look for supplements that provide key nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin K, as these are all vital for bone strength. Always consult a healthcare professional before starting any new supplement to ensure it’s suitable for you and won’t interact with any other medications or health conditions.
How to Strengthen Bones: Lifestyle Tips
• Exercise: Doing weight-bearing exercises like walking, jogging, or dancing, along with resistance training, helps strengthen your bones and keep them healthy.
• Avoid smoking and limit alcohol: Both cam make your bones weaker.
• Get regular check-ups: Especially if you have risk factors for osteoporosis.
Final Thoughts
Your bones need more than just calcium. A combination of vitamins for bones, minerals, and healthy lifestyle habits can help you build strong bones and joints for life. If you’re worried about your bones growing weak considering supplements for bone loss, consult your GP before choosing supplements. For most of us in the UK, a varied diet plus a vitamin D supplement in winter is a great start.
FAQs
Q1. What vitamin is good for bone strength?
Vitamin D is the most important vitamin for bone strength. People in the UK don’t get enough from the sun, so we should take vitamin D supplements for our bones. Along with this, maintain sufficient calcium intake too.
Q2. Which vitamin is best for bone health?
Vitamin D and Vitamin K are the best vitamins for bone health. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption, and calcium is crucial for bone strength. Vitamin K helps osteocalcin bind calcium to the bones.
Q3. What food is good for bones?
Foods rich in calcium and vitamin D are important for bone strength – dairy products, tofu, leafy veggies like kale and broccoli, fish with edible bones like sardines, fatty fish like salmon and tuna.
Q4. How to get strong bones?
Include calcium foods in your diet. Increase your vitamin D intake, the best way to do this in the UK is with supplements. Incorporate weight exercises into your routine.