Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis

You can help prevent Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease of the bone that can but successfully treated by slowing down or reversing the loss of normal bone. You can begin preserving your bone mass through several lifestyle changes that include taking adequate amounts of Vitamin D and Calcium daily committing to a regular exercise program and quitting smoking.

What is osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a bone disease that occurs when the body loses too much bone, makes too little bone, or both. As a result, bones become weak and may break from a fall or, in serious cases, from sneezing or minor bumps.

The maximum amount of bone density occurs in your early 20s and 30s. After that peak, your bones get progressively weaker and thinner. The number of people with osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures increases with age.

Who gets Osteoporosis?

A common misconception is that only females are affected by osteoporosis. Females after menopause lose bone density up to three the rate of premenopausal women or men, but men also lose bone density every year. As people live longer, the incidence of osteoporosis is increasing. As people age, the disease can become quite severe. Both men and women must take measures to maximize bone health.

Take Vitamin D Daily

Vitamin D is vital for bone health and important for calcium absorption. Without Vitamin D, most of the calcium you ingest is passed out of your system without being absorbed into your bloodstream. Vitamin D also is important to allow calcium to go from your bloodstream into your bones. Although Vitamin D does not occur naturally in significant quantities in dairy products, all processed milk in the India is fortified with Vitamin D. Sunlight is another good source of Vitamin D. Your skin produces Vitamin D when exposed to sunlight.

Generally, because of low fat diets, poor dairy product consumption and lack of time spent outdoors, most of the Indian population does not get the minimum amount of Vitamin D required for our body. The easiest way to ensure adequate Vitamin D is to take a dietary supplement.

Start Exercising

As you age, coordination decreases and more falls are apt to occur. This, combined with relatively weak bones, can cause an osteoporotic fracture. Exercise has been shown to be extremely beneficial to bone health. Three types of exercise can help reduce osteoporosis.

Weight bearing exercises

Weight-bearing exercises like jogging or walking at a fast pace stresses lower extremity bones, decreases osteoporosis and decreases the rate of bone fractures. Even regular walking helps maintain good bone strength. Although faster walking is ideal, even a slow walk is better than no exercise.

Strength Exercises

Strength exercises can increase the muscle tone around the bones and decrease the amount of osteoporosis. A generalized strengthening programs is beneficial in preventing fractures.

Balance Training

Balance training, such as Yoga or Tai Chai, can cut falls in half and reduce bone fracture rates.

Which Calcium is best?

Most people in this country do not take nearly enough dietary calcium, especially women after menopause, men after age 65 and adolescents. One way to ensure enough calcium is through your diet. Some common calcium­ rich foods are:

  • Milk (Approximately 300 mg per cup)
  • White Beans (Approximately 200 mg per cup)
  • Almonds (200 mg per one-half cup)
  • Cooked Broccoli (45 mg per one-half cup)

If your diet is rich in these substances, you can obtain enough daily calcium. Consuming 1500 mg a day is equivalent to five glasses of milk or milk products such as yogurt, cheese, milkshakes, and products that are fortified with extra calcium such as bread.

Calcium Supplements

If you need a calcium supplement, no "bad" calcium exists. You should take the calcium regularly in divided doses rather than be concerned with the brand of calcium. The many forms of calcium on the market fall generally into two forms -calcium carbonate and calcium citrate.

Calcium carbonate is the most common calcium found in over-the-counter supplements and is found in calcium-containing antacids such as Tums.

Calcium carbonate is a very acceptable form of calcium in preventing and treating osteoporosis. For calcium carbonate to be most beneficial, take with meals. When taken on an empty stomach, absorption of calcium carbonate is lower and a significant portion of calcium taken does not enter the bloodstream. Calcium carbonate is generally well-tolerated but can cause gastrointestinal side effects, such as intestinal gas or abdominal indigestion. If calcium carbonate does not cause side effects and is easy to take with meals, it is very acceptable, generally cheap calcium supplement.

Calcium citrate is another form of calcium found in calcium supplements. Calcium citrate taken on an empty stomach does not affect absorption. In addition, calcium citrate seems to have a lower incidence of gastrointestinal side effects. The disadvantages are the smaller selection of brands to purchase and the more expensive price tag.

Vitamin D Dosage

Vitamin D is not measured in weight, but on an arbitrary scale measured in international unit (1.U.). For healthy people of all ages, the minimum dosage of Vitamin D is 400 1.U. daily. The recommended dosage for individuals with osteoporosis or post-menopausal is a minimum of 800 1.U. a day.

Most multivitamins contain a minimum of 400 1.U. of Vitamin D per pill (always check the label of the vitamin you take or purchase to make sure you have the right amount of Vitamin D). The other way to obtain supplementary Vitamin D is through over-the-counter calcium supplements, which often contain Vitamin D and are an alternative to a multivitamin.

Take Dietary Calcium Daily

Vitamin D and Calcium together can decrease the incidence of osteoporotic fractures. Calcium is important throughout your life, but certain times do require additional Calcium.

Calcium is measured in milligrams. One milligram is one-thousandth of a gram (there are 452 grams to a pound). Calcium is measured on a weight basis (mg) as opposed to Vitamin D. Here are current recommendations for various times in a person's life.

  • Childhood- 400-800 mg per day
  • Puberty and Adolescence - 1,500 mg per day
  • Adulthood- 800 mg per day
  • Pregnancy and Breastfeeding- 1,500 mg per day
  • Women after menopause- 1,500 mg per day
  • Men after age 65- 1,500 mg per day

Although it is important to take Calcium after menopause, as you can see, adequate dietary Calcium during adolescence, pregnancy, and breastfeeding are just as important. Most adolescents do not take 1,500 mg of Calcium and Vitamin D daily.

Those poor nutritional habits lead to deficiencies in the diet that can lead to osteoporosis later. Failure to allow the bone to obtain its maximum strength causes weaker bones at the time of skeletal maturity.

Calcium Dosage

Calcium should be taken regularly in divided doses, and generally no more than 600 mg per sitting. Taking extra Calcium above 600-mg is not detrimental, but as the dose increases, the about absorbed decreases. In other words, taking 1,000 mg of Calcium at a time will give you more Calcium in your bloodstream, but not twice as much as the 500-mg dose.

Calcium should be taken regularly in divided doses, and generally no more than 600 mg per sitting. Taking extra Calcium above 600-mg is not detrimental, but as the dose increases, the about absorbed decreases. In other words, taking 1,000 mg of Calcium at a time will give you more Calcium in your bloodstream, but not twice as much as the 500-mg dose.

Your total daily consumption of 1,500-mg of Calcium can come from a combination of sources. Any dietary Calcium, including food, multivitamins, or Calcium-containing antacids, will decrease the amount of supplemental Calcium you need. All sources are additive. Each one contributes independently to the total amount of Calcium needed.

For example:

Drink two glasses of milk daily 600 mg of Calcium
Take two maximum - strength Tums 800 mg of Calcium
Take a multivitamin 162 mg of Calcium
Total Calcium for the day 1,562 mg of Calcium

Quit Smoking

If you smoke, one of the best things you can do for your bone health is quit. Besides the other known health risks, smoking is detrimental to bone health and increases the rate of osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures. Smoking more than a pack a day seems to be more detrimental to bone health than smoking less than one pack a day. Fortunately, the health risks of smoking are reversible. A few years after you quit smoking the osteoporotic fracture rate generally decreases to the fracture rate of people who have never smoked