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Best Vitamins For Bones – 4 Top Picks For Your Bone Health

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By Leslie Waterson

Reviewed by Juliana Tamayo, MS, RDN - Last Updated

best vitamins for bones

Bone health is incredibly important, and something that you probably don’t think about all that often. When it comes to bone health, many of us don’t think about it until we face problems, but it really is something we should consider throughout the course of our lives. 

There are a variety of things you can do to keep your bones strong and healthy both now and in the future. This ranges in the food you eat to the way that you exercise to even the vitamins you can take to help increase your bone strength and bone health. 

In this guide, we will discuss everything you need to know before choosing a vitamin for bone health. We’ll also give you our picks for the best vitamins for bones.

bone health

Best Vitamins For Bones

There are many options out there when it comes to vitamins for bones, but our overall top choices are:

  • Calcium 1100 mg by Amy Myers MD
  • Life Extension Super K
  • Thorne Vitamin D-5,000
  • Future Kind Vegan Magnesium Glycinate

Keep reading to learn why each of these supplements earned a top spot.

Calcium 1100mg by Amy Myers MD

This calcium supplement by Amy Myers provides high-quality bovine bone extract that comes from grass grazing New Zealand cows. It also includes IGF-I & IGF-II growth factors which provide optimal bone metabolism. This is a great supplement for someone that needs to strengthen their bones. 

calcium 1100 mg by amy myers md

Life Extension Super K

A vitamin K supplement that is bound to help you boost your bone health with its K1 and K2 formula. Vitamin K, which is usually found in the plant cells of green vegetables, can help support bone health and arterial health as well.

life extension super k

Thorne Vitamin D-5,000

Vitamin D is a great vitamin that helps so many bodily functions and organs run smoothly. While most Vitamin D supplements on the market include lactose or preservatives, like BHA, BHT, or sodium benzoate, Thorne’s Vitamin D does not. 

thorne vitamin d 5000

Future Kind Vegan Magnesium Glycinate

This magnesium supplement is a great choice if you are looking to improve your bone health. It has 6x the potency of standard Magnesium supplements on the market, making it a great option. 

future kind vegan magnesium glycinate

What Are Vitamins For Bones?

The importance of our bone and bone health is quite obvious – our bones make up the structure of our very body! Without bones, imagine the physical form we would have. 

But the importance of our bone health goes beyond its structure-making function. Since they make up our body’s structure, bones serve as a protection to our organs. This is especially true to certain bone parts like the ribcage and skull, for instance.

The health of our bones also affects our movement – weak bone health leads to certain joint and bone problems like arthritis and osteoporosis whereas strong bone health leads to better physical performance and endurance.

Lastly, our bones also serve as storage for certain minerals such as calcium, phosphorous, and other minerals. These minerals are in our bones to support bone health but also are kept in case our body needs them for other purposes. If needed, our bones may “donate” some of these minerals to serve such purposes.

So, it is very important to take care of our bones just as we strive to take care of other areas of our health like the heart, liver, and brain.

Of course, the most fundamental way of taking care of our bones (and our overall health) is through a healthy lifestyle – proper diet, regular exercise, getting the amount of sleep, and managing our stress well. No amount of supplements and medicine will keep your health in top shape if your lifestyle does not support your health.

Nevertheless, supplementation, either naturally or synthetically, is one key factor in ensuring you get and maintain healthy bones.

Vitamins, Minerals, And Other Nutrients That Support Bone Health

There are certain nutrients that support our bone health, but let’s start with the basics: calcium and vitamin D.

1) Calcium

When it comes to bone health, calcium is the number one nutrient that comes to mind and for good reason.

Calcium is a crucial building block for bone tissue. Therefore, calcium is one of the key minerals when it comes to overall bone health – in its structure, function, and other areas related to bones. For instance, calcium is one of the most important minerals when you are suffering from osteoporosis, a condition when your bone becomes brittle and weak.

However, calcium needs a partner so that your body can better absorb; that “partner” is vitamin D.

2) Vitamin D

Unlike calcium, you probably do not link vitamin D to bone health. Vitamin D is often associated with good health, especially to those who live in regions where the sun sparsely shines.

However, vitamin D goes beyond mood health and is beneficial to other areas of your health, including your bone health. So, what does vitamin D exactly do for your bones?

As mentioned above, vitamin D helps your body absorb more calcium compared if you have low vitamin D levels. Aside from absorption, vitamin D will reclaim some calcium that otherwise would be excreted by your kidney.

Aside from calcium and vitamin D, here are other vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that will help you build stronger bones:

  • Magnesium – magnesium works together with calcium to help you make your bones stronger.
  • Vitamin K – Vitamin K will further bind calcium into your bones, ensuring that your bones do get the calcium you give them. However, be sure not to take too much of vitamin K – the recommended dosage is 150mcg (micrograms) per day.
  • Trace minerals (silicon and boron) – both silicon and boron are beneficial for your bones. In fact, they are used for treating osteoporosis, although in small quantities only. For silicon, you need at least 25-50mg per day to help you with osteoporosis; for boron, you need 3-5mg per day.

However, before taking vitamin K and the two trace minerals, ask your doctor if these supplements will help you or not. Also, if you are under certain medication or if you are pregnant, ask your doctor if these vitamins are safe for you to take – if improperly taken, you may get unexpected side effects.

How To Take Vitamins For Bones

For synthetic supplements, bone health supplements come either as a single packaged supplement or you can take different supplements for each nutrient (i.e. calcium supplement, magnesium supplement, etc.)

Like with many supplements, bone supplements mostly come in pill or capsule form. However, there are liquid forms as well if that is what you prefer. As always, be sure that you are taking the proper dosage. If you are using liquid supplements, be sure you are following the proper measurement when taking them.

Lastly, these nutrients can also be found through your diet. But if you are not getting the proper amount of nutrients your body needs, you will need supplementation to help your body get and absorb more nutrients until it meets its needs.

The short answer is: yes, bone supplements do work, but not all bone supplements are made equal. Some supplements tote false claims, but some are real and reliable. Here are a few tips to make sure that you are getting the right supplement:

  1. Do not fall for exaggerated claims. Exaggerated claims are often one red flag that the supplement mostly do not work, but not necessarily all. To know if the claims are real or not, simply research the science of the supplement to understand how supplementation really works. This is why we explain the basic nutrients and science when supplementing a certain health area – bones, skin, fat loss, etc. – rather than just throwing you with different recommendations.
  2. Check the label. Once you know the science behind the supplement, it’s easy to know if the supplement is real or false – just check the label and see if it contains the ingredients that are necessary to deliver their promised benefits.
  3. Get recommendations from trusted sources. If you have a family member, friend or follow a blog or online personality that uses the supplement you intend to use, seek recommendations from them. This is often a faster way of finding supplements, though you may or may not immediately find the supplement that will work for you.

Of course, you don’t need to be a doctor before you can choose your supplements. But having at least a basic understanding of how your body and supplement works will help you see if a certain supplement is mostly real or probably false.

Are Bone Health Vitamins Right For You?

Most bone health supplements are easy to take. If its one of the vitamins, or a mixture of them, just make sure that you are able to digest them. For calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium, these supplements are safe to be taken by the general population. So, most likely, it will be safe for you as well.

For vitamin K, Silicon, and Boron, as mentioned above, it would be better if you first seek your doctor’s advice if it will be safe for you to add these supplements to your current routine. But in general, if you are pregnant or are undergoing a certain medical condition, consult your doctor first before adding any supplements to make sure that you will not have unexpected side effects.

Alternatives To Vitamins For Bones 

Improving your bone health is an important task and something that many people in America struggle with. If you are looking to improve your bone health, but you do not want to take vitamins, there are a few other options for you. 

The first thing you can do is make sure to eat calcium-rich foods. You can find calcium in some surprising foods like almonds, navy beans, tofu, sesame, or even soybeans. The second thing you can do is rather easy and rather inexpensive, eat lots of green, leafy veggies. Some veggies include broccoli, curly kale, Chinese cabbage, and okra. 

Final Thoughts: Vitamins And Your Bone Health

If you are thinking about adding vitamins for bone health to your diet, now is a great time to try it out. Vitamins for bone health are easy and safe supplements to test that carry a variety of benefits with it. If you start taking vitamins for bone health and experience any negative symptoms, contact a medical professional for help. 

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Leslie Waterson

Leslie has been passionately involved in the health and fitness industries for over a decade. She is constantly reviewing the latest scientific research and studies in order to take a research-backed approach to lifestyle optimization. Her main areas of interest include nutrition and supplementation. Leslie shares her findings on Fitness Clone to help other health enthusiasts choose the products and routines that will help them achieve their goals.