Osteoporosis Osteoporosis Treatment

Building a Bone Bank: Saving Up for the Adult Years

Every kid is given a piggy bank to store loose coins and dollar bills for later use. Wouldn't it be wonderful if kids treated their bones in the same way, depositing all the ingredients for strong bones, to equip them with a rich supply of bone mass later in life?

Just as financial experts encourage you to set up a college fund for your kids when they are babies, health professionals are emphasizing the importance of considering bone health early and often, especially for young girls.

"People can do a lot themselves to improve their bone health, so that they'll reduce their risk of having bone problems later in life," said Steven Petak, MD, JD, FACE, vice president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. "People can actually do something about this."

Osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to deteriorate, currently affects over 10 million Americans. And approximately 34 million additional people have low bone mass, making osteoporosis quite likely. Eighty percent of osteoporosis patients are women, making prevention all the more important in young girls. Women have thinner bones than men and their bones can deteriorate quickly after menopause when levels of estrogen, a hormone that protects the bones, drop off. In men and women, osteoporosis-plagued bones can get so weak they can fracture without any major fall or injury.

The good news is that osteoporosis is largely preventable. The goal is to build up as much bone strength as possible by the time your body stops actively making bone. This occurs when you reach peak bone mass at approximately 20 years of age. Up until this time, bones are actively being built and strengthened during the natural process of remodeling. Specialized bone cells called osteoclasts break down and remove old bone tissue. Then, new bone is formed by osteoblasts.

Once peak bone mass is achieved, however, nothing more can be done to build bone mass. All you can do is maintain your bone mass as your body begins to break down bone mass faster than new bone can be built. But if someone consumes enough calcium and vitamin D and does weight-bearing exercises during childhood and adolescence, she can build her bone mass high enough to reach the maximum peak bone mass possible and prevent going bankrupt in the bone department later in life.

Mineral Deposits
Milk does a body good, but only if it's actually put into the body. A glass of milk contains 300 milligrams of calcium, almost one-fourth of the recommended daily intake of 1,300 milligrams for a child between the ages of 9 and 18. However, getting kids to drink their milk isn't always easy.

"Calcium deficiency is very, very common in the United States, and throughout the world, in fact," Dr. Petak said. "Sufficient calcium intake is important at every age, from infancy through the oldest Americans."

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