Are You Doing Right By Your Bones?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
It's not just about the elders.
When we think about bone health, we often focus on the older population, and with good reason: 50% of women over 50 will have a bone-related fracture, and 25% of men. And these fractures, most often in the hip, become a real public health issue, as nearly ¼ of those people with a hip fracture end up in nursing care.
But where's the work have to be done? As early and as stridently as possible, according to Geetha Gopalakrishnan, MD, director of the Bone Health Program at Women and Infants Hospital. "We build bone until we're about 25 to 30," Gopalakrishnan says, "after which we maintain the bone we've built. The real prevention, therefore, happens younger. We need to think about it for our adolescents."
A strong defense on behalf of young bones comes from two, equally crucial aspects, she says: diet and exercise. And in teenagers, particularly diet, with a focus on strong intake of calcium and Vitamin D. Gopalakrishnan says that 1,000 mg a day of calcium, and 800 iu of Vitamin D, a day, is crucial for bone health, for all pre-menopausal women. "But the average diet in the country has changed," she says. "We're not eating dairy, and we're not eating green leafy food (both sources of these nutrients). This has become an issue."
"We've got to change our habits to allow for that nutrition, or supplement that to some format."
This can feel challenging at any age—but for teens, who go, as Gopalakrishnan says, from parental control to lack of parental control, nutritional discretion often flies out the window. And diet sodas, which contain a phosphate that actually inhibits calcium absorption, are a real enemy.
What's the deal with exercise and bone health?
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