Bone health: Here's why you should be eating anti-inflammatory foods

New York: Adopting an anti-inflammatory diet is can help counter some of the chronic inflammation that results from leading an unhealthy lifestyle.

If you're a woman and are ready to get back on the path to healthy eating, here's another health bonus for you.

New research suggests that regularly eating vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains, could boost bone health and prevent fractures in women.

Foods that fight inflammation include green leafy vegetables - such as spinach, kale, and collards - nuts, fatty fish, olive oil, fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges.

The findings showed that young women with the least-inflammatory diets lost less bone density than their peers with the most-inflammatory diets.

This was despite the fact they started off with lower bone density overall.

Furthermore, the risk of hip fracture was almost 50 per cent higher in women younger than 63, compared with the risk for women in the group with the most-inflammatory diets.

The study suggests that women's bone health could benefit when they choose a diet higher in beneficial fats, plants and whole grains, said lead author Tonya Orchard, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Orchard.

"A high-quality, less-inflammatory diet may be especially important in reducing hip fracture risk in younger women," Orchard said.

For the new study, the team looked at dietary data from 160,191 women and assigned inflammation scores based on 32 food components that the women reported consuming in the three months prior to their enrollment.

The researchers used bone mineral density data from a subset of 10,290 women. Fracture data was collected for the entire study group.

The results showed women with healthier diets did not lose bone as quickly as those with high-inflammation diets, and "this is important because after menopause women see a drastic loss in bone density that contributes to fractures", Orchard said.

Inflammation is the body's normal response to irritation, injury, or infection. It's a natural part of healing, but chronic inflammation could have a negative impact on your body and your health.

The study appeared in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

(With IANS inputs)