A healthy balanced diet will help you build healthy bones from an early age and maintain them throughout your life.

You need sufficient calcium to keep your bones healthy and vitamin D to help your body absorb calcium.

A good diet is only one of the building blocks for healthy bones, which also includes exercise and avoiding certain risk factors for osteoporosis.  

Calcium  

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
• soybeans, tofu, nuts
• plant-based drinks with added calcium
• bread and anything made with fortified flour
• fish where you eat the bones, such as sardines and pilchards

Vitamin D

Adults need 10 micrograms (400 International Units or IU) of vitamin D a day.

From late March or early April to the end of September, you can make vitamin D from sunlight by having short daily periods of sun exposure without sunscreen. However, everyone should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter when we cannot make vitamin D from sunlight.  

Good food sources of vitamin D:

• oily fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackerel
• egg yolks
• fortified foods (some fat spreads and breakfast cereals)

For babies and children, see vitamins for children.  

Osteoporosis

If you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis, your doctor may prescribe calcium and vitamin D supplements as well as osteoporosis drug treatments if they have concerns that your calcium intake may be low.  

Menopause

Women lose bone more rapidly for a number of years after the menopause when their ovaries almost stop producing oestrogen, which has a protective effect on bones.

There are no specific calcium or vitamin D recommendations for the menopause, however a healthy balanced diet, including calcium, summer sunlight and vitamin D supplements, will help slow down the rate of bone loss.

Vegans

Non-vegans get most of their calcium from dairy foods, but vegans will need to get it from other foods.

Good sources of calcium for vegans include:

• fortified soy, rice and oat drinks
• soybeans   
• calcium-set tofu
• sesame seeds and tahini
• pulses
• brown and white bread
• dried fruit such as raisins, prunes, figs and dried apricots
• green leafy vegetables such as kale, cabbage and broccoli

The vegan diet contains little, if any, vitamin D without fortified foods or supplements but, for everyone, sunlight on the skin in spring and summer is the main source of vitamin D. Remember to cover up or protect your skin before it starts to turn red or burn.  

Other vegan sources of vitamin D are:

• fortified fat spreads, breakfast cereals and plant-based drinks such as soy drink (with vitamin D added)
• vitamin D supplements

During pregnancy and when breastfeeding, women who follow a vegan diet need to make sure they get enough vitamins and minerals for their child to develop healthily.

If you’re bringing up your baby or child on a vegan diet, you need to ensure they get a wide variety of foods to provide the energy and nutrients they need for growth.

Too much vitamin A

People at risk of osteoporosis, such as postmenopausal women and older people, are advised to limit their retinol intake to no more than 1.5mg (1,500 micrograms) a day by eating less liver and liver products and avoiding supplements containing retinol (including those containing fish liver oil).

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