If you're like most people, you believe that calcium plus D equals stronger bones, celebrity-wearing milk mustaches of the "got milk?" ads. New research presented at the annual Pediatric Academic Societies meeting challenges this notion. According to lead researcher Professor Steven Abrams of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, “dietary magnesium intake may be an important, relatively unrecognized factor in bone mineral accretion". Abrams and his team recruited 62 healthy children ages 4 to 8 years old who were not on any supplements. Based on food intake, specialized calcium and magnesium levels and bone scans, Abrams found that the amount of magnesium consumed -- not calcium -- predicted bone density. The take away message for parents? "Lots of nutrients are key for children to have healthy bones. One of these appears to be magnesium," reports Abrams.

As adults, another belief you may have is that your bone-building days stopped before you were twenty. While the bulk of bone is banked early in life, bones are dynamic and living tissue, constantly remodeling (breaking down and rebuilding). You can still help that process along with optimal magnesium levels, along with calcium, vitamin D and other bone nutrients like boron and vitamin K2. Read more in Calcium & Magnesium, the Dance of Life and The Truth About Calcium. And make sure you take an organic (bioavailable and thus absorbable) form of magnesium like TyH's Fibro-Care™ to actually get magnesium's bone benefits.

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