The Sentinel

Connecting the dots; The Mediterranean diet, exercise and bone loss

There are many factors when it comes to bone loss including age, body weight, diet and physical activity. The key to minimizing bone density loss is the inclusion of weight bearing exercises such as lifting weights.

Mediterranean Food

Photo: Robert Anasch/Unsplash

by Matt Sheehan
OSF Healthcare

ROCKFORD - There’s always plenty of discussion when it comes to the benefits of diets.

In one recent study in the JAMA Network Open, researchers found the lower-calorie Mediterranean diet combined with exercise, helped older women lose weight with beneficial effects on bone mass density.

The study was completed in hospitals and medical centers across Spain and included more than 900 women who ranged in age from 55 to 75. Half the group was instructed to eat a Mediterranean diet with no calorie restrictions and were not required to exercise. The other half was encouraged to walk for at least 45 minutes a day for six days a week and do strength exercises three days a week. This group saw significant improvement in stronger bones.

A lack of calcium and vitamin D are also major factors in bone density loss.

There are many factors when it comes to bone loss including age, body weight, diet and physical activity. Nicole O’Neill, a dietitian with OSF HealthCare, says the Mediterranean diet and exercise can prevent bone loss, if weight bearing exercise, such as lifting weights, is part of the program.

“This was not studied specifically for the Mediterranean diet and bone loss,” she explains. “It was something they found incidentally and then studied it closer. It's not that it's wrong, it's just that it's inconclusive.”

Nicole O’Neill, Dietitian

A lack of calcium and vitamin D are also major factors in bone density loss. “The Mediterranean diet overall limits the amount of dairy, so most people get the majority of their calcium and vitamin D from dairy products,” says O’Neill. “So, say you were doing three glasses of milk a day. If you switched to a Mediterranean diet and dropped down to one glass of milk, you could cause bone loss because you're getting less calcium and vitamin D if you're not careful.”

The typical American standard diet includes plenty of processed foods and lacks in fruits and vegetables.

Key Takeaways:

A study found the Mediterranean diet combined with exercise may have some positive effect on bone mass density in older women.
The key is the inclusion of weight bearing exercises such as lifting weights.
The Mediterranean diet is popular because it promotes fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods.
Always consult with your provider before starting any diet.

The Mediterranean diet is popular because it features simple, plant-based cooking, with each meal featuring fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds and an emphasis on extra-virgin olive oil. The diet is rich in nutrients that help bone health. Vitamin C from fruits and vegetables can help support bone cells and vitamin K found in spinach can help with bone formation.

“I really do like the Mediterranean diet,” O’Neill says. “There are a lot of pros. The cons are it’s a little fussy. You have to push and pull things around, and you have to be careful to fill in the gaps with foods that are appropriate. If you're not used to having that bigger load of fruits and vegetables and whole grains, that's a lot of fiber that maybe your guts are not used to. So, a slow, incremental approach might be the best way to start.”

Regarding any study, O’Neill says it’s important to read and do your research before coming to any conclusions. Don’t rely on information from the Internet, she adds. You’re likely to get misleading information. Instead, talk to your provider or a dietitian who can interpret the numbers found in the study.

“There are really a lot of moving parts,” O’Neill says. “When you start a new diet, we don't want a crash course. We want it to be sustainable. We want it to be long term, and we want it to be something that fits for you and that makes sense.”

Judge blocks Trump administration order cutting off access to pandemic relief money

by Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois

SPRINGFIELD — A federal judge in New York issued a preliminary order Tuesday blocking the Trump administration from cutting off states’ access to hundreds of millions of dollars in pandemic relief funds for public schools, including more than $77 million for Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois file photo

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is pictured in a file photo. He was part of a lawsuit securing a temporary injunction to stop the Trump administration from cutting off more than $77 million in education funds to the state.

U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos, of the Southern District of New York, issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of an order that Education Secretary Linda McMahon issued on Friday, March 28. That order reversed earlier decisions to grant the states additional time to spend funds they had been allocated.

The effect of McMahon’s order was to immediately cut off access to funds that states said they had already committed to spend but not yet made the actual expenditures.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined a coalition of 17 states in suing the federal government to block McMahon’s order.

“The Trump administration’s shortsighted and illegal decision to attempt to rescind already-appropriated education funding would hurt vulnerable students the most and could wreak havoc on the budgets of school districts throughout Illinois and the nation,” Raoul said in a statement Tuesday.

The lawsuit over pandemic-related education money is one of more than a dozen multistate suits Raoul has joined, in combination with other Democratic state attorneys general, challenging actions Trump has taken since being sworn in for a second term Jan. 20.

In 2020 and 2021, Congress passed several relief and economic stimulus packages totaling trillions of dollars to help individuals, businesses and state and local governments deal with the financial consequences of the pandemic. For schools, that included costs associated with preparing for the safe return to in-person learning, addressing the learning loss students suffered during the extended period of school closures, and addressing some of the unique needs of homeless children that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

According to the complaint, Illinois was awarded just over $5 billion in “education stabilization” funds under the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, which was enacted in March 2021. Of that, $77.2 million remained obligated but not yet spent as of the end of March 2025.

Those funds had been earmarked for such things as teacher mentoring, statewide instructional coaching, new principal mentoring, trauma response initiatives, the creation of social-emotional learning hubs and contracts for technology infrastructure upgrades, according to the complaint.

Under ARPA, those funds were intended to cover expenses incurred through Sept. 30, 2023. Subsequent legislation gave states an additional year, to Sept. 30, 2024, to “obligate” their funds. And under agency regulations, they had another 120 days beyond that to draw down the funds, although they were also given the option of requesting further extensions.

In January 2025, Illinois requested, and later received, permission to extend its deadline for drawing down the remainder of its funds to March 28, 2026. Other states involved in the lawsuit also received extensions.

But on Friday, March 28, 2025, the Department of Education issued a memo rescinding those extensions, effectively cutting off the states’ access to any unspent funds.

“Extending deadlines for COVID-related grants, which are in fact taxpayer funds, years after the COVID pandemic ended is not consistent with the Department’s priorities and thus not a worthwhile exercise of its discretion,” McMahon said in a memo to state education agency heads.

The injunction means the Department of Education cannot enforce the order, at least while the case is still being litigated or until the court issues a different order.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.