The 7 Best Supplements For Bone Health + Density

Takeaways

• Go beyond calcium: For supplements to be effective, calcium must be combined with its essential partners, Vitamin D3 (for absorption) and Vitamin K2 (to direct calcium to bones).
• Build the structure: Nutrients like magnesium and collagen are vital for building a strong bone framework for minerals to bind to.
• Lifestyle is key: Supplements cannot replace regular weight-bearing exercise and a healthy diet, which are critical for preventing bone loss.

The Consequences Of Poor Bone Health

Choosing the right bone health supplements is a key step in protecting against age-related bone loss. 

Your bones are dynamic, living tissues that are constantly being broken down and rebuilt in a process called remodeling. When this process becomes unbalanced—leading to conditions like osteoporosis—specific nutrients become vital for support. 

From foundational minerals like calcium and magnesium to essential vitamins like D and K, this guide will break down the best supplements for maintaining bone density and supporting your skeletal structure for years to come.

Best Supplements For Bone Health

Calcium + Vitamin D3

99% of the calcium in our body is in our bones. Adequate calcium intake has an established role in maintaining bone health, primarily in very young women and the elderly. 

However, as important as calcium is to bone health, supplementation with calcium has the best chance in actually protecting against bone loss or osteoporosis when it is combined with vitamin D3 and K2, and other nutrients as well. A detailed analysis of controlled trials with calcium supplementation alone for bone health, showed only a modest benefit on bone health.¹ 

Closer examination of the Women’s Health Initiative, a study that enrolled more than 36,000 postmenopausal women, showed a surprising result. Many women in the study did not take the dietary supplements on a regular basis. When the analysis was restricted to women who took a calcium supplement at least 80% of the time, calcium plus vitamin D3 significantly decreased hip fractures by 29% compared with placebo.² That is a significant amount especially with vitamin D having been supplemented at levels now known to be less than ideal. 

Dosage for vitamin D3 for bone health is now generally recommended at 2,000-5,000 IU daily versus the 400 IU used in earlier studies. Nonetheless, vitamin D3 supplementation even at the 400 IU dosage is associated with increased bone density and studies that combined vitamin D3 with calcium produced better results than either nutrient alone.³ 

Collagen Peptides

Collagen peptides provide the building blocks for collagen, the most abundant protein in the body and the main component of bone and all joint tissues (i.e., cartilage, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, and bone). 

Studies indicate that taking collagen peptide supplements at dosage of 5 to 10 grams daily can promote bone health and prevent the breakdown on bone. Human clinical studies have shown collagen peptide supplementation can produce improvements in bone mineral density (BMD), especially if combined with calcium and vitamin D3.⁶ 

Magnesium

Magnesium is critical to bone health. About 60% of the body's magnesium content is found in bone, where it functions bone structure and bone formation. 

Magnesium is also required for the conversion of vitamin D3 into its most active forms, which helps with calcium absorption. It also helps hormones like parathyroid hormone in their role in bone health. Not surprisingly, low magnesium levels negatively affect bone formation, strength, and quality and are associated with osteoporosis. On the flip side, higher magnesium intake is associated with a lower risk of developing osteoporosis.⁶ 

Magnesium supplementation is an important step to bone health, especially when used with calcium, vitamin D3, and other bone-critical nutrients. It is also important to understand that the RDA for magnesium is 350 mg for men and 300 mg for women, yet average intake of magnesium in the United States ranges from 143 to 266 mg/day. 

Taking 300 to 350 mg of a highly absorbable form like magnesium citrate or bisglycinate at bedtime is recommended not only for boosting magnesium levels but it also helps to improve sleep quality. Magnesium is available in capsules, tablets, and in powdered drink mixes. 

B Vitamins: Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, and Vitamin B12

Low levels of b vitamins nutrients may contribute to osteoporosis. These nutrients are important in the conversion of the amino acid methionine to cysteine. If deficient in these vitamins or if a defect exists in the enzymes responsible for this conversion, there will be an increase in homocysteine. This compound has been implicated in a variety of conditions, including atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and osteoporosis.⁸ 

Increased homocysteine concentrations are thought to play a role in osteoporosis by interfering with collagen cross-linking leading to a defective bone matrix. Since osteoporosis is known to be a loss of both the organic and inorganic phases of bone, the homocysteine theory has much validity as it is one of the few theories that addresses both factors.

Taking a multiple vitamin formula that includes the RDA for folic acid, B6 and B12 is good way to ensure sufficient levels.⁷

Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 or menaquinone is produced by bacteria and found in some fermented foods. There are several different forms of K2 based upon the number of molecules known as isoprenoids that are attached to the vitamin K backbone. MK-7 is the most important dietary supplement form of vitamin K2 that was originally found in natto (a fermented soy food popular in Japan). A three-ounce serving of natto provides 850 mcg of MK-7.

Vitamin K2 plays an important role in bone health as it is responsible for converting the bone protein osteocalcin from its inactive form to its active form. Osteocalcin is the major non-collagen protein found in our bones and in its active form it anchors calcium into place within the bone. 

In a landmark major clinical study, 244 healthy postmenopausal women took either MK-7 (180 mcg per day) or a placebo for 3 years.  Results showed MK-7 significantly improved vitamin K status and active osteocalcin levels and decreased the age-related decline in bone mineral concentration (BMC) and bone mineral density. Bone strength was also favorably affected by MK-7, which was shown to be a key factor determining the risk of suffering from a bone fracture. These results highlight the importance of MK-7 supplementation in post-menopausal women, but benefits on bone health are important at any age. MK-7 has the additional benefit of insuring calcium is deposited into bone and not soft body tissues like the walls of blood vessels.⁹

Silica

Silica is an important trace mineral for bone health. Silicon is necessary for cross-linking collagen strands, thereby contributing greatly to the strength and integrity of the connective tissue matrix of bone. Recalcification in bone remodeling is dependent on adequate levels of silicon. 

Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid (e.g., Biosil®), a highly bioavailable from of silica, has shown positive clinical effects in improving bone density and the collagen content of the bone. By increasing the collagen content of the bone by 22% within one year of use, Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid increases the number of bone mineral binding sites. Supplementing at a dosage of 6 mg per day increased bone mineral density by 2% within one year – safely and without side effect.

Nutrition And Lifestyle Factors

Many dietary factors have been suggested as a cause of osteoporosis. For example, a diet high in refined sugar, salt, or acidity causes calcium removal from bones and increases calcium loss in the urine. Soft drinks and other high-sugar beverages are particularly harmful because they contain not only sugar, but also acidic phosphates or other acids that also promote calcium loss from bones. 

Therefore, it is important to avoid sugar, soft drinks and other high sugar beverages, and salt, and eat an alkaline based diet by focusing on vegetables, fruit, nuts, and legumes while avoiding overconsumption of meat and dairy, which produce acidity. 

Although nutritional factors are important, normal bone metabolism is also dependent on lifestyle and hormonal factors. One of the other critical lifestyle factors is getting regular physical exercise consisting of one hour of moderate activity (e.g., walking, weightlifting, dancing, etc.) three times a week. This sort of exercise has been shown to prevent bone loss. In contrast to exercise, lack of physical activity greatly contributes to poor bone health.

Conclusion

Remember, while dietary supplements are an important piece of the puzzle, bone health is greatly impacted by lifestyle. Be sure to get that one hour of weight-bearing exercise at least three days a week. 

References:

1. Tai V, Leung W, Grey A, Reid IR, Bolland MJ. Calcium intake and bone mineral density: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2015;351:h4183.
2. Jackson R, LaCroix A, Gass M, et al. for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators: calcium plus vitamin D supplementation and the risk of fractures. N Engl J Med 2006;354:669–683.
3. Quesada Gómez JM, Blanch Rubió J, Díaz Curiel M, Díez Pérez A. Calcium citrate and vitamin D in the treatment of osteoporosis. Clin Drug Investig. 2011;31(5):285-98.
4. Heaney RP, Dowell MS, Barger-Lux MJ. Absorption of calcium as the carbonate and citrate salts, with some observations on method. Osteoporos Int. 1999;9(1):19-23.
5. Heaney RP, Recker RR, Watson P, Lappe JM. Phosphate and carbonate salts of calcium support robust bone building in osteoporosis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jul;92(1):101-5.
6. Lampropoulou-Adamidou K, Karlafti E, Argyrou C, et al. Effect of Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation With and Without Collagen Peptides on Volumetric and Areal Bone Mineral Density, Bone Geometry and Bone Turnover in Postmenopausal Women With Osteopenia. J Clin Densitom. 2022 Jul-Sep;25(3):357-372. 
7. Liu L, Luo P, Wen P, Xu P. The role of magnesium in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis. Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024 Jun 6;15:1406248. 
8. Ilesanmi-Oyelere BL, Kruger MC. B vitamins and homocysteine as determinants of bone health: A literature review of human studies. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2023 Jun;36(3):1031-1044. 
9. Knapen MH, Drummen NE, Smit E, Vermeer C, Theuwissen E. Three-year low-dose menaquinone-7 supplementation helps decrease bone loss in healthy postmenopausal women. Osteoporos Int. 2013;24(9):2499-507.
10. Spector TD, Calomme MR, Anderson SH, et al. Choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid supplementation as an adjunct to calcium/vitamin D3 stimulates markers of bone formation in osteopenic females: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2008 Jun 11;9:85.