Osteoporosis can happen to anyone. The good news is that a lifetime of proper nutrition and exercise can help prevent this silent disease.
Our human body is strong, very strong in fact. Want to know just how strong our human bodies are? Did you know that it can take the weight of up to six American professional football players to break a thighbone (1800 pounds of them)? Human bones have the breaking strength of cast iron - meaning that breaking a bone would require as much pressure as it would take to break a cast iron pan.
Guess what? All that strength is no match for osteoporosis. This crippling disease makes bones so brittle that a slight fall can break a bone. In advance stages even a child’s hug or a sneeze can result in multiple breaks.
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Osteoporosis is called the silent disease because victims are largely unaware of their conditions until they break a bone. Early diagnosis of the disease is also quite difficult as there’s practically no symptoms. By the time patients come to us complaining of back & other pains, it’s already too late. Osteoporosis has already progressed & a fracture already exist, says orthopedic surgeon Dr. Angelo Ochoa.
In the U.S., osteoporosis is responsible for an estimated 1.5 million bone fractures each year. The World Congress on Osteoporosis estimates that in the next 50 years, Europe alone will experience a 100 percent increase in the incidence of osteoporosis, despite active information campaigns. And Asians, with our low dietary intake of calcium, are at greater risk for the disease. In fact, it has been predicted that by 2050, over half of crippling or even life-threatening hip fractures will be among Asians.
Our bodies have more than 200 bone. All these bones go through the normal process of breaking down & new growth. This is known as bone remodeling. In the early years of a person’s life, more “new bone” brows that breaks down. By the time a person reaches his mid twenties to mid thirties, his bones are as strong and as dense as they will ever be. After early adulthood however, the processed is reversed so that more bone breaks down than is rebuilt. Osteoporosis develops when too much bone is lost through breakdown.
Although this disease, can & does develop in older men, post-menopausal women are four times more likely to suffers from osteoporosis because of a deficiency in the hormone called estrogen. Estrogen which is produced in the ovaries, is an important factor in reducing bone loss. When women hit menopause, their bodies stop producing estrogen & bone loss occurs at a dramatic rate. In fact, during the first five years of menopause, women can actually lose up to 50 percent of all bone minerals they built up over their lifetime.
Osteoporosis leaves bones so weak and fragile that bones fractures can occur even from the slightest bumps & most minor falls. Sometimes, the sheer weight of the upper body can cause vertebral fractures that will lead to height loss & extreme back curvatures. Hip and vertebral osteoporotic fractures are the most common & the most expensive to treat. They can be very painful & recuperation from them is a long process. Rehabilitating osteoporotic patients with major fractures takes twice as long as healthy individuals. This could mean up to six months (sometimes even longer) for an osteoporotic individual to recuperate. Worse yet, if multiple fractures occur, permanent disability is possible.
While it is true that osteoporosis develops later in life, this should not lull any young person into complacency. In fact, among Asians, whose diets are often calcium deficient, bone loss can happen as early as in the 20s. Guarding against the possibility of osteoporosis takes a lifetime’s worth of proper nutrition & exercise. Naturally, preventive routines differ in focus through various age periods.
From infancy to adulthood, the focus is on building up bone mass so that bones are strong and as dense as possible. The idea is to fortify the bone structures so that even when the inevitable wave of bone loss occurs, there are enough reserve tissues to keep the bones in a healthy condition.
Calcium and other minerals are primarily responsible for the hardness of bones. This is why a calcium rich diet is touted as the best preventive remedy to osteoporosis. Calcium rich foods should comprise much of our diet to give the body all the calcium it needs. Dr. Ochoa, however warns against stockpiling calcium in our bodies. The principle of more calcium for healthier bones works only to the point that the body can still use the calcium. Beyond that point, a person runs the risk of hypercalcemia or calcium overdose, a condition that has its own set of problems. Stick to the required daily allowance of calcium for your age groups. It is sufficient, he says.
Calcium is most readily found in milk products but is not limited to such foods. Broccoli, collards, tofu, salmon, canned sardines, packed with their bones do just as well. Calcium supplements are important to augment calcium intake.
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Vitamin D is also critical because it helps the body absorb calcium. Vitamin D can be found in fortified milk & egg products and is also produce d by our skin when it is exposed to sunlight. A daily routine of ten minutes a day is sufficient. Finally, regular exercise is necessary for strengthening the skeletal structure. Weight bearing exercises such as aerobics, walking, jogging, & taebo are best suited for this purpose.
In late adulthood, focus shifts from building up bone mass to simply slowing down the rate of bone loss. Again, calcium plays an important role. Think of your skeleton as a huge reservoir of calcium. The body uses calcium for many functions like muscle contraction, nerve conduction & blood clotting among other things. If your calcium intake is below the amount your body requires, you are running a negative calcium balance. Your blood then has to draw calcium from the reservoir (your bones). If you continue to run a negative balance over a period of time, your reservoir is eventually depleted & bones become brittle. Calcium, later in life, ensures that the reservoir is not depleted so drastically.
In menopausal women, hormone replacement therapy is often used to stave off the high rates of bone loss from lack of estrogen. However many women choose not to take this route because of the risk of cancer. In this cases, Dr. Rebecca Singson, obstetrician – gynecologist, recommends major dietary modifications to help minimize the risk of developing osteoporosis at this stage in life. Her dietary suggestions includes foods rich in organic calcium like broccoli, other green leafy vegetables, sea weed, and all varieties of soy bean products (soy bean beverages are not recommended as they are filled with sugar & contain purines - uric acid effects that causes gout, etc.).
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Osteoporosis can also develop in much older individuals from disuse of limbs. Exercise at this stage in life not only strengthens bones but also improves flexibility & muscle strength. The more physically fit a person is, the less likely he or she is to have accidental spills that could lead to fractures.
Osteoporosis can be detected by a process called bone densitometry or bone density scan. It is available in most major hospitals in Asia but is not considered a standard test for menopausal women. Many women submit themselves to expensive mammogram test to rule out the possibility of breast cancer. But very few of them get themselves tested for osteoporosis. Yet the majority of them are likely to come down with osteoporosis than breast cancer, says Dr Edith MC Lau, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong & specialist in osteoporosis research.
It is relatively easy to determine those individuals who are at high risk of developing osteoporosis. Jus answer a few questions at the questionaire below. In the event that osteoporosis does develop, Dr Lau assures us that medication, dietary supplements as well as dietary & lifestyle changes can retard its progress. First you must know what you’re up against. Then you can take proper action.
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Osteoporosis can happen to anyone. The good news is that a lifetime of proper nutrition & exercise helps ensure that this silent disease does not sneak up on you. It is never too early to practice prevention. It may mean your continued mobility & independence in the future.
Source :HT, various.
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