As May ─ and Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month ─ come to an end, knowing your bone health is important. Osteoporosis, which causes bones to become weak and brittle, happens when the creation of new bone doesn’t keep up with the loss of old bone. Approximately 54 million Americans have osteoporosis or low bone mass.  An estimated one in two women, and up to one in four men aged 50 or older, will break a bone during their lifetime due to this debilitating disease.

The Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation (BHOF) says osteoporotic fractures are responsible for more hospitalizations than heart attacks, strokes, and breast cancer combined.

According to Harvard Medical School, eating the right foods can help minimize the loss of bone mineral density. Surprisingly, a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that postmenopausal women who ate five or six prunes a day were able to better preserve bone density, which translated into fewer bone fractures. Similar studies have shown that eating prunes can benefit bone health, says Medical News Today This may be due to the high levels of bone-protecting vitamin K in prunes.

Here are more bone-protective foods:

• Dried figs. Two figs contain about 65 milligrams (mg) of calcium. You can slice figs over oatmeal or blend them into smoothies. Try them as a snack or over pizza as an exotic topping.

• Tofu. Soy-based tofu has 430 mg of calcium in a 4-ounce serving, but you can purchase enriched brands with double that amount. Soy foods are not only high in calcium, but also are a good source of protein.

• Sweet potatoes. The BHOF recommends adding sweet potatoes to your diet as an alternative to traditional spuds. They are rich in magnesium, a mineral that helps lower the risk of osteoporosis, says AARP. Sweet potatoes also promote healthy bones and cartilage.

• Tart cherry juice. The juice needs to be from tart cherries, which are chemically more like plums than sweet cherry varieties. A study published in the journal Nutrients found that tart cherries, rich in hydroxycinnamic acid and anthocyanins, protect against age-related and inflammation-induced bone loss. This study used Montmorency tart cherry juice in its investigation and found the juice altered the biomarkers of bone loss in women.