Don’t Wait Until You Break a Bone. Now is the time to protect your bones, reduce inflammation, and support lifelong strength and mobility By Amber Cotton (Registered Nutritional Therapist)
Do you believe frail bones are inevitable as you get older—especially if osteoporosis runs in your family?
Have you been diagnosed with osteopenia but feel unsure how to stop further bone loss?
Has the fear of a broken bone stopped you doing the things you love?
Though out of sight, your bones should never be out of mind. Globally, Caucasian women face a 1 in 6 lifetime-risk of sustaining a hip fracture—greater than their 1 in 9 risk of developing breast cancer.¹
There are some things you can’t change–for example, you can’t stop the natural process of ageing. But there are powerful steps you can take to protect your bones—starting with addressing chronic inflammation, one of several key modifiable risk factors that influence bone loss.
In this article, I’ll explain how your bones grow and repair, why inflammation disrupts this process, and share six practical ways you can protect your bone health.
How Do Bones Grow and Repair?
Bone modelling—the process of building new bone—begins in the womb and continues through adolescence, slowing by around age 30. After that, bone remodelling takes over, where old or damaged bone is broken down and replaced.
Around 10% of your bone mass is renewed each year, and this natural process can be stimulated through regular weight-bearing and resistance exercise, a nutrient-rich diet, and by maintaining hormonal balance during and after menopause.
Bones rely on three key cells to undertake bone remodelling: osteoclasts (which break down bone), osteoblasts (which build it), and osteocytes (which monitor bone health and regulate vital blood-calcium levels).
When the bone remodelling cycle is balanced, your bones stay strong and resilient—but when disrupted, particularly by factors that cause chronic inflammation, the delicate interplay between these cells can falter, tipping the scales toward bone loss.
Why Chronic Inflammation Is Damaging to Bones
After menopause, declining oestrogen levels significantly contribute to bone loss. Oestrogen plays a vital role in calming inflammation and serves as a potent antioxidant, shielding bone from the oxidative damage caused by free radicals.
While free radicals are a natural by-product of cellular activity, their production can be amplified by stressors such as a nutrient-poor diet, blood sugar dysregulation, an imbalanced gut microbiome, lack of movement and muscle loss, chronically elevated cortisol, and inadequate sleep.
As oestrogen wanes, the body’s ability to counteract this oxidative stress diminishes, leading to increased tissue damage and the onset of low-grade chronic inflammation.
In bone, chronic inflammation drives osteoclasts to work more aggressively, creating deep resorption pits. While shallow pits can normally be repaired by osteoblasts, deeper ones often remain only partially refilled, gradually weakening bone density and structure.
Over time, these incomplete repairs leave the skeleton more vulnerable, making it easier for bones to fracture under stress, particularly in the spine and hips, and increasing the risk of osteopenia, and osteoporosis.
Six Practical Ways to Reduce Inflammation
Here are six practical steps you can start today to lower chronic inflammation and protect your bones.
1. Prioritise Anti-Inflammatory Nutrition
Eat a diverse range of colourful vegetables, berries, oily fish, olive oil, nuts, seeds, and herbs like turmeric and ginger. These foods help lower inflammation and protect bone cells from oxidative stress.
2. Stabilise Your Blood Sugar
Blood sugar spikes can drive up insulin and fuel chronic inflammation, which speeds up bone loss. Choose balanced meals with protein, healthy fats, and fibre-rich carbohydrates to keep levels steady and support bone-building hormones.
3. Support Gut Health
A healthy gut microbiome helps regulate immune responses and inflammation. Include prebiotic foods (like onions, garlic, leeks, and bananas), fermented foods (such as kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi), and ensure you're getting enough fibre to nourish your gut bacteria. Good gut health also improves nutrient absorption—essential for bone minerals like magnesium, calcium and vitamin K2.
4. Incorporate Bone-Stimulating Movement
Regular weight-bearing and resistance exercise not only strengthens muscles but stimulates osteoblast activity. Walking, Pilates, lifting weights, or using resistance bands are excellent places to start.
5. Reduce Chronic Stress and Prioritise Sleep
Stress raises cortisol levels, which contributes to bone loss and impairs calcium absorption. Daily stress-reduction practices—such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and gentle movement—along with 7–9 hours of quality sleep, help regulate inflammatory cytokines and support the hormonal balance essential for healthy bones.
6. Minimise Toxic Exposures
Environmental toxins, such as pesticides, plastics, and heavy metals, can trigger chronic inflammation and disrupt bone metabolism. Choose organic foods where possible, use natural personal care and cleaning products, and reduce plastic use to lighten your toxic load.
Ready To Take Control of Your Bone Health?
As a registered nutritional therapist, I can help you to understand your individual bone-health risk factors, and develop a tailored nutrition and lifestyle plan to support your long-term bone strength and resilience.
Additionally, I offer non-invasive nutrigenomic testing—an advanced tool that reveals how your body manages inflammation, absorbs key nutrients, and regulates bone metabolism. These insights allow for a truly personalised, evidence-based approach to nutrition and lifestyle, giving you the very best possible foundation for maintaining strong, healthy bones as you age.
To find out more, get in touch at amber@ambercotton.co.uk or visit www.ambercotton.co.uk. In-person consultations are also available at the Stockbridge Osteopathic Practice.
Amber Cotton
Registered Nutritional Therapist
Reference
1. Cummings, S.R. and L.J. Melton, Epidemiology and outcomes of osteoporotic fractures. Lancet, 2002. 359(9319): p. 1761-7.