Never Too Early to Prevent Osteoporosis

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1 What is osteoporosis?

     

You may have heard of osteoporosis, or even you are having it now, but you may not have full understanding of osteoporosis.

  

As the name suggests, osteoporosis means porous bone, where the density and quality of bone are reduced, causing the bone more fragile and easier to be broken. The picture below shows the bones of people with and without osteoporosis.

    

  

1.1 Alarming symptoms

      

There are no early osteoporosis symptoms until it gets advanced. Be alarmed if you have these symptoms persistently, and consult the doctor in time:

        

- Back pain

- Loss of height

- Stooped posture or curved upper back

- Fractures that occur with minor injuries (especially of the hip, spine, or wrist)

     

    

You can detect osteoporosis before any of the mentioned symptoms occur by bone density tests. If you do have osteoporosis, click here to see tips that may help you: Diagnosis and Home Remedies for Osteoporosis.

    

1.2 Risk factors

      

These are some risk factors of osteoporosis:

      

- Age. The older you are, the higher the risk of having osteoporosis you have.

- Gender. The risk of a female of having osteoporosis (40-50%) is higher than a male (13-22%).

- Family history. If you have a family history of osteoporosis, your risk of having it is higher.

- Previous fracture. This increases the risk of any fracture by 86%.

- Long term glucocorticoid therapy. This is a very common cause of osteoporosis.

- Rheumatoid arthritis. This will increase the risk of osteoporosis.

- Some medical treatments affecting bone health. You should consult your doctor if you are having any.

     

     

 2 How to prevent or slow down osteoporosis?

   

Before introduce prevention of osteoporosis, we first need to understand the concept of bone mass. Bone mass refers to the strength and size of the bone, which will change with the age of people. Most people reach peak bone mass in their mid-20s.

     

The bone mass changes because of two process: resorption, where old bone is removed, and formation, where new bone is created. The rate of resorption is greater than that of formation before the mid-20s (peak bone mass), and the opposite goes after that.

    

The methods suggested below can help slow down the process of resorption, thus helping preventing osteoporosis.

     

2.1 Adequate calcium/vitamin D intake

     

Recommended calcium/vitamin D intake content for different people

      

The suggested calcium intake doses are: 1000 mg per day for women between 19 to 50 and men between 19 to 70, and 1200 mg for women over 50 and men over 70.

     

The suggested vitamin D intake doses are: 400 – 800 international units (IU) daily for people under 50 and 800 – 1000 IU daily for people of and over 50.

     

List of food that can provide calcium/vitamin D

     

Food with rich calcium:

- sesame seeds: 989 mg/100 g

- winged beans: 442 mg calcium/100 g

- almonds: 367 mg calcium/1 cup

- fried tofu: 372 mg calcium/100 g

- milk: 276 mg calcium/1 cup

- broccoli: 74 mg calcium/1 cup

- orange juice: 72 mg calcium/1 cup

   

    

Food with rich vitamin D:

- salmon: 988 IU/100 g

- herring: 1628 IU/100 g

- cod liver oil: 450 IU/tsp (4.9 ml)

- canned tuna: 236 IU/100 g

- oysters: 320 IU/100 g

- shrimp: 152 IU/100 g

- milk: 130 IU/1 cup

          

2.2 Participate in exercises

      

Recommended time duration and frequency

Exercise for 30 to 40 minutes, 3 to 4 times each week is recommended for adults.

      

Recommended exercise types

Weight-bearing activities are considered most effective for preventing osteoporosis. Common high-impact weight-bearing exercises are:

     

- dancing

- high impact aerobics

- hiking

- jogging/running

- jumping rope

- stair climbing

- tennis

       

2.3 Avoid heavy drinks

     

Recommended amount of drink and frequency

1 drink per day for women, and 1 to 2 drinks per day for men is considered moderate and good for health.

 

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8 Answers

These messages are for mutual support and information sharing only. Always consult your doctor before trying anything you read here.
What is bone remodeling? Anyone knows about bone remodeling?
Bone remodeling is the combination of resorption and formation. You can find it in Part 2.
I think Vitamin D is as important as calcium in prevention of Osteoporosis, you didn't mention it at all.
I've added it with a list of recommended food. Thanks for your advice.
I think Vitamin D is related to sunshine. How long shall a boy expose in sun each day to get enough Vitamin D?
Although vitamin D is related to sunshine, it's hard to get enough vitamin D through sunshine only. The geographical place you are in, your skin color, age, even weight are all related factors. To get enough vitamin D, you can eat fatty fish like salmon, herring or tuna, or directly take vitamin D supplements.
If you are in a place with really good sunshine (like Hawaii), you can spend 5 to 20 mins out every day at noon.
Thank you for the info.
I also think just being outdoors most of the day in the sun or sitting on a bench in the sun will help in case of no Beach to go to and for people who are sensitive to the Sun the risk/reward If the Sun (the Sun's rays could cause a painful burn or for some radiation poisoning)
If you’re olive or tan skinned like I am, you need a bit more sunshine than a fair skinned person. 30 years ago we used coconut oil on our bodies before it became known. It was cheap then.
Shall I drink more milk or take calcium supplement?
Yes you can. Calcium content in milk per cup is listed above for your reference.
How do I know I have enough calcium from foods each day?
You can take calcium supplement directly or refer to the food listed above.
How much alcohol is called "heavy drinking"? I have two glasses of wine every night, is it okay or too much?
If you are a healthy male that's OK. If you're a female or have some health conditions already, I'd suggest to drink one glass per day.
Is Osteoporosis a disease? Do you feel bone pain if you have Osteoporosis?
It is a disease yes. You don't necessarily feel pain with osteoporosis, it's a lose of density of the bone. You can see the symptoms in part 1.1.
Also I've had to stop getting tooth implants because of loss of bone density in the jaw bone and 3 inches of height over the years so if your young it's a good time to find out if you are predisposed, if not just drink an extra glass of milk.
How do you do weight bearing exercises? Do I have to go to gym?
You don't need to. I've listed some exercises in part 2.3. You can do those exercises with your friends on weekends.
Okay I will be there in the same class room number u going in I'm going in I'm going in I'm going

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