A study presented by the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Washington DC, has found that foods rich in magnesium play an important role in bone density.

Image courtesy of Nevit Dilmen / Wikimedia Commons

Children have always been encouraged to drink plenty of milk and eat calcium-rich foods to assist strong bones but the new research has shown that pumpkin seeds, dark chocolate, salmon and almonds are just as important as they are magnesium rich. Lead author of the report, Steven Abrams, said: “Lots of nutrients are key for children to have healthy bones and one of these appears to be magnesium. Calcium is important but except for those children and adolescents with very low intakes, may not be more important than magnesium … We believe it is important for children to have a balanced healthy diet with good sources of minerals, including both calcium and magnesium.”

Researchers studied 63 children who were healthy and not taking any multivitamins or minerals. The group were asked to keep a food diary and the children were hospitalised twice to check their calcium and magnesium levels via urine samples.