Drinking milk can work wonders for your ageing bones, says a new study.

For example, healthy men and women who supplemented their diets with a daily intake of 1,200 mg of calcium - or four glasses of milk - reduced their risk of bone fractures by 72 percent.


Researchers from University Hospital Zurich and Dartmouth Medical School divided 930 healthy men and women aged 27 to 80 into two groups for a four-year study.


One group was given a placebo, while the other took a daily calcium supplement containing 1,200 mg of calcium daily - the recommendation for adults over 51 years.


Researchers found that those receiving an additional 1,200 mg of calcium were significantly less likely to have a bone fracture of any sort during the four-year period, including everyday activity fractures (bone breaks that occurred while walking or standing).


In fact, during the four-year intervention, not a single adult receiving calcium experienced a fracture tied to everyday activities - fractures that researchers call 'potentially preventable' and more likely linked to bone health.


To sustain the benefits, researchers found that the adults needed to maintain their calcium intakes. After the four-year supplementation period ended, the bone benefits dissipated, underscoring the need to adopt lifelong habits, like drinking milk, to prevent bone loss.


Adult bones continue to grow in density and strength until about age 35. Poor bone health and bone fractures can have negative consequences for adults of all ages, interfering with recreational activities, ability to work or physical capacity to exercise and stay healthy.


These adult bone fractures may also be an early sign of risk for osteoporosis - a serious condition of brittle bones afflicting more than 10 million Americans.

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