It's the prime of your life, so eat right in your 50s

Bone builder
In the early years after the menopause, increasing the amount of calcium you eat will not stop bone loss from certain parts of the body altogether, but in later menopause, doses of up to 500 mg of calcium may stop bone loss from the spine and the forearm. If you are thinking of taking a calcium supplement speak to your GP or - even better - obtain more calcium by eating dairy products (such as yoghurt and cheese), canned fish with bones, bread, green leafy vegetables and tofu, and by drinking more milk and hard water.

B good
Keeping up your intake of B vitamins such as folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 will lessen your chances of heart disease, strokes and prevent anaemia. Good sources of folate include green leafy vegetables, offal, yeast extract and fortified bread and fortified breakfast cereals. The richest source of vitamin B12 is liver but useful amounts can be found in eggs, meat, milk, fish, fortified breakfast cereals and yeast. Vitamin B6 exists in a wide variety of foods, including meat, fish, eggs, cereals and some vegetables such as peas and sprouts.

Keep regular
If the idea of eating bran-enriched cereal doesn't tickle your taste buds then there are plenty of other ways of making sure you get your daily 18g recommendation. Starchy foods such as potatoes, wholegrain cereals and wholemeal bread are ideal. But if you do increase your fibre be sure to up your fluid intake as well. You can do this simply by drinking more water or eating water-rich foods such as vegetables and fruit.

Cut the fat
Your 50s are when cardiovascular diseases may start to rear their ugly heads. One simple way of guarding against this is to watch out for the amount and types of fat you eat. Cutting down on fat, particularly saturated fats, is important, so wherever possible you should try to eat reduced-fat versions of meat and meat products, milk and dairy products. There is increasing evidence from scientific studies that a good intake of a type of fat called omega 3 polyunsaturated fats can reduce the risk of heart disease. You can obtain this fat from oily fish, such as mackerel, salmon, pilchards and trout.

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