Osteoporosis
Begins in the
Teen Years!
Ten Facts
About
Bone Health
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Much of society
is
largely misinformed or uninformed about how to build and
maintain healthy bones. Most women know they need calcium and
are aware that they rapidly lose bone
mass after menopause, but that is typically the extent
of knowledge in what is a very important health concern.
Current
statistics demonstrate that one in two
women and one in eight men over 50 will have an osteoporosis-related
fracture
in their lifetimes, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.
Unfortunately most people remain unaware that they have this
“silent disease” until their bones are so thin
and weak that they fracture easily.
The hip, spine, and wrist bones are especially
susceptable. The unfortunate back-drop to this reality is the fact that
in many
cases, adopting healthy bone habits earlier in life could have
prevented
osteoporosis.
The
good news is that it's never too late to make a change for the better
and to improve your bone health circumstances. With
that in mind; these ten
little-known bone health facts; outlining nutrition tips,
lifestyle risks, and
warning signs - can help you take the appropriate steps to
grow old with your bones healthy and intact.
Boning
up on your bones... Nutrition -
1. Your
body stores almost all of its calcium in
the bones, which act as a calcium “bank.” You deposit calcium daily,
and the
body withdraws daily what it needs. Anything that isn’t used is stored
for
future use. The amount of daily calcium you need varies at different
stages of
life (see table below), but remember the body won’t absorb more than
500 mg. at
a time. Wait four to six hours between doses or dairy servings. Daily Calcium
Requirements For Every Stage of
Life
Stage of Life Daily Calcium Requirements
1-3 years 500 mg.
4-8 years 800 mg.
9-18 years 1,300 mg.
Pregnancy & lactation 1,000 – 1,200 mg.
Adult women 1,000 mg.
Post-menopause on hormones 1,200 mg.
Post-menopause without hormones 1,500 mg.
2. Cottage
cheese is a poor source of
calcium. A one-cup serving of 1 percent fat cottage cheese has only 138
mg. of
calcium, but a cup of non-fat yogurt has a whopping 450 mg. of calcium!
The
calcium content in hard cheeses varies, too. An ounce of processed
American
cheese has 130 mg of calcium while an ounce of hard Parmigiano has 335
mg. –
almost three times as much. A good hard cheese to eat is Swiss cheese,
with 270
mg. of calcium per ounce.
3 Low-fat
dairy products are much higher in
calcium than whole-milk products. Even low-fat yogurt has less calcium
than
non-fat yogurt – 415 mg. vs. 450 mg. per cup – while whole milk yogurt
has just
274 mg. A half-cup serving of part-skim ricotta has 337 mg. of calcium
vs. 257
mg. in whole ricotta. That’s because non-fat products often are
fortified with
dry milk solids. Check labels to see what you’re eating.
4. .
Certain foods and beverages interfere with
calcium absorption. The list includes heavily salted foods such as
bacon,
salami, smoked salmon, prepared soups, salty snacks and other processed
food.
It is recommended that you consume less than 4,000 mg. of sodium a day.
Cola
has phosphoric acid that blocks calcium absorption, while caffeine can
actually
deplete calcium. Alcohol in excess is not good, either, because it
damages
bones.
Lifestyle -
5. Some
sun is good for you and your bones, so
don’t always sit in the shade. A minimum of 400 IU of Vitamin D is
essential
each day for the body to absorb calcium. About 15 minutes of daily
sunlight
without sunscreen will produce all the Vitamin D you need. Because the
sun
doesn’t shine everyday, make sure your calcium supplement contains
enough
Vitamin D.
6. Osteoporosis
begins in the teen years. Girls
achieve 42 percent of their total body bone mass between the ages of 12
and 18,
yet 90 percent of girls do not get enough calcium. Beginning at age
nine,
children (both boys and girls) should include 1,300 mg. of calcium in
their
diet.
7. Contrary
to the Duchess of Windsor’s dictum, you
can be too thin. If your bones don’t carry enough weight, they will
lose mass.
(Paraplegics and other wheelchair-bound individuals also are at risk.)
That’s
why you have to make your bones work. Cardiovascular exercise such as
biking or
swimming is good for the heart, but less so for your bones. Engage in
weight-bearing exercises such as running, jumping, and lifting as well.
(Consult with your physician first.).
Warning Signs
and Other Risks -
8. Many older
women have fractured spines – but
they don’t know it because they don’t feel or hear the bone crack. When
older
women lose height, suffer back pain, or develop a protruding abdomen or
Dowager’s Hump on their back, chances are that’s a sign of a
vertebral
fracture of the spine. About 700,000 women suffer vertebral
fractures each year. Brittle teeth also can be an early sign of
osteoporosis.
9. Many
women know there is a link between estrogen
and bone health, which is why post-menopausal women have a higher risk
of
osteoporosis. But in some circumstances, pre-menopausal women may not
produce
enough estrogen. Early menopause, amenorrhea (loss of your period,
sometimes as
a result of too much exercise), estrogen inhibiting birth-control
pharmaceuticals such as Depo-Provera, late puberty, irregular periods,
or other
menstrual disorders put women at higher risk of developing osteoporosis.
10. Some
medications reduce bone mass, such as
glucocorticoids used to control arthritis and asthma, some antiseizure
drugs;
certain sleeping pills, some hormones used to treat endometriosis, and
some
cancer drugs. Certain medical conditions also increase the risk of
brittle
bones, including an overactive thyroid gland, kidney disease, and lupus.
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