Today's topic was Osteoporosis & Calcium.

We need to take enough calcium and vitamin D to prevent from osteoporosis from baby.

If lacks of calcium, one can easily have weak, fragile and easy to break bone called osteoporosis.

Dairy products can help the body with calcium but if one won't eat them, they can have calcium from fish with bone, tofu, fortified soy milk, calcium fortified orange juice, bone soup etc.

The strength and mass of your bones when you are 40 to 60 years old is mostly dependent on how well your bones are developed during adolescence (9 to 18 years).It is so important that we pay attention for the food we eat for enough calcium from when we are young, and for our kids when they are small.

Vitamin D helps the body absorbs calcium so we should have more sunbathing for vitamin D.

For a child under 3 years old, the recommended dietary allowance of the calcium is under 700 mg per day, for over 4 years old it is between 1000 mg to 1300 mg. From 9 to 18 years old, one should have 1300mg a day. Taking 3 to 4 cups of milk can provide 1000 mg of calcium.

As for Vitamin D, child under 1 years old should have 400 IU, over 1 year old, should have 600 IU per day. Adults over 70 years old should have 800 IU a day. 1/2 cup of 2% milk provides 50 IU vitamin D. 1/2 cup of fortified orange juice provides another 50 IU of vitamin D. 3/4 cup Yoplait original yogurt provides 200 IU of vitamin D.

Balanced diet plus exercise are the formula for healthy bones.

When we give food to our kids, we should always remember to give them healthy, balance diet that make sure they have enough nutritions as well as calcium , vitamin D and other minerals.

Besides our kids, we should take the balanced diet ourself as well.

I learned something today, look forward to next Monday.