How Can Osteoporosis Be Prevented

Prevention of osteoporosis is entirely possible. “How can osteoporosis be prevented?” you might ask. First thing you should know is that prevention of osteoporosis should start in childhood and go on throughout the entire life. There are some general directions that experts agree will prevent the development of osteoporosis.

How Can Osteoporosis Be Prevented With Vitamins

Receiving the sufficient amount of vitamin D and calcium in reducing the likeliness of developing osteoporosis and will prevent your bones to become weaker, even if you already have developed the condition. Sometimes it is even possible to replace a bone that has already been lost. During childhood and adolescence, when the bones are growing, is the time when the body needs calcium the most. Also, breast-feeding women, post-menopausal women and older men have an increased need for calcium. With age, the body becomes less capable of absorption of calcium, so increased intake of vitamin K is necessary. Vitamin K and vitamin D regulate the absorption of calcium in the body. Also, include food that is rich in magnesium and zinc – they can prevent the worst effects of osteoporosis from occurring. Foods rich in boron should also be included in the diet. Boron reduces the excretion of magnesium and calcium from the body and elevates the estrogen production. Don’t forget the antioxidants, like vitamins A, C and E. Omega 3 oils are also good; they slow down the loss of calcium in the urine.

You will have most benefits if you start exercising at an early age and continue with regular workouts throughout your life. The best results come from combining strength-training workout with weight-bearing workout. Strength exercise helps your bones and muscles in your arms and upper torso strengthen, and weight-bearing training, like jogging and running have a positive effect on the bones and muscles in your legs and lower body. Swimming, elliptical machines and cycling can be also helpful, but not as much as weight-bearing training, since there is no impact involved.

A bone density scan usually involves x-ray scan, CT and/or MRI scan to determine how many grams of solid bone material or minerals one segment of the bone contains. Of course, the higher the minerals count, the higher the solid bone mass is. And the denser the bones are, the stronger they are and less they are prone to fractures. The bone density is the only way doctors can determine if you have developed or are at risk of developing osteoporosis. Certain categories of people are advised to take a regular bone density screening since they are at higher risk of developing the condition. These categories of people include post-menopausal women, women who enter menopause too early, men older than the age of 70, women who stopped receiving hormonal therapy and alike.

Even though experts are not completely sure what causes osteoporosis, they do have ideas what increases the risk and how can osteoporosis be prevented. Some of the factors that affect the development of the bone degeneration condition are smoking, excessive alcohol use, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia and sedentary lifestyle.

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The Stages of Osteoporosis

In literal translation, the word osteoporosis means “porous bones”. It is a progressive disease that causes bones to lose mass and become thin and fragile, with many air-filled holes inside, much like a sponge. Bones naturally have small air-filled pockets in their structure. That is what makes the light but strong at the same time. When those holes start increasing in size, the solid bone mass decreases, which makes the bones more fragile. This is osteoporosis.

Who Suffers from the Stages of Osteoporosis

This condition is typical for women of advanced age, but older men and younger women may also suffer from it. The symptoms are mostly invisible and the condition is only confirmed after a bone fracture occurs. It can only be determined by a bone mineral density scan.

In early stages of osteoporosis people rarely experience any symptoms like pain or any other that may signal that they have a problem. Symptoms typically become visible after the disease has already progressed. Some of the most common symptoms of osteoporosis are: loss of height, frequent fractures, stooped posture and back pain.

Like we mentioned before, the only way to determine that a person has osteoporosis is through bone density scan. That is why physicians recommend regular screening for risky categories of people, like: postmenopausal women, women over 65 and men over the age of 70, no matter the risk factors, women who enter menopause too early, postmenopausal women who stopped taking hormones, any person over the age of 50 with a history of broken bones and so on.

The chances of a person to develop osteoporosis is closely related to the bone mass the person has obtained through their early life, as well as how fast they lose it in later life. As people grow, their bone mass builds up and the accumulated mass peaks by the late 20s. After this age the bone mass starts decreasing, and the more bone mass people have, the less they are prone to developing osteoporosis later on in life.

The density of the bones is based mainly on the amount of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other minerals they are made of. Depriving the bones of any of this minerals can lead decrease of strength of the bones and ultimately, to osteoporosis.

Some risk factors that contribute to the development of osteoporosis are not controllable. These are: race (Asians and Caucasians are more prone), family history, having small body frame and being female. The controllable risks include: smoking, low intake of calcium and other minerals, eating disorders, excessive drinking of alcohol and sedentary lifestyle.

There are four generally acknowledged stages of osteoporosis which include people who are around ages of 30 to 35 because the bones lose density with the same speed they build it. It has no visible symptoms.

Fortunately, the advances in medicine prevent from many women to reach stage four, since the condition is detected in much earlier stage. There are several tests that can be performed to catch this condition before it begins.

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