Is BONE HEALTH The New GUT HEALTH?

The topic of conversation that makes up Julia Thomson’s working day probably hasn’t crossed your mind since you were encouraged to drink milk at pre-school and which you might not consider again until something inside you snapped. Literally. Thomson manages the helpline at the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) in the UK, where she and her team answer around 13,000 calls a year from women whose bones have reached breaking point.

It’s easy to think you’re immune to such structural issues but while you can’t see, hear or even feel your frame weakening, stats confirm that bone issues could be coming for you: currently, every five to six minutes, someone is admitted to hospital with an osteoporotic fracture. The only (good) break bone health will cut you is that there are ways to protect your skeleton – but time is ticking.

An inside job

Bones lack the self-promotion opportunities of your visibly sculpted parts, says Thomson. “Bones aren’t just a clothes hanger on which all the important bits hang,” she adds, explaining that