Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Living Well with the Carrie Connection

If you are a woman over the age of 50 you have a one in two chance of suffering an osteoporosis-related fracture in your lifetime. If you are a man the chances are one in eight.

Osteoporosis is a serious health problem and is expected to increase as a public health priority, because the elderly population in the United States is expected to more than double by 2030.

Osteoporosis is a disease that gradually weakens bones and often leads to painful and debilitating fractures. According to an independent, non-government consensus panel recently convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), osteoporosis is a major public health threat for more than 28 million Americans, 80 percent of whom are women. This disease causes nearly 1.5 million fractures annually and costs this country nearly $14 billion each year.

Osteoporotic fractures can cause disabling pain. Vertebral fractures lead to stooped posture, loss of height, and cause compression of the lungs and stomach. Hip fractures have a profound impact of quality of life. Only one-third of hip-fracture patients regains pre-fracture level of function and one-third requires nursing home placement. Twenty-four percent of people die in the year following a hip fracture.

About 10 million people in the United States have osteoporosis and an additional 18 million individuals already have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for this disorder. Childhood and adolescence are important times for building bones, but a person's bones grow in size and strength into the third decade. Achieving optimum bone mass early in life reduces the impact of bone loss related to aging. Peak bone mass is strongly influenced by genetic make up, but controllable lifestyle factors also are important. These include good nutrition, particularly adequate calcium and vitamin intakes and physical activity.

Although the Institute of Medicine recommends calcium intakes of 800 milligrams a day for children and 1,300 milligrams a day for adolescents ages nine to 17, only about 10 percent of girls and 25 percent of boys between ages nine and 17 obtain an adequate amount of calcium in their diet through the consumption of dairy products and vegetables.

For older adults calcium intake should be maintained at 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams a day, yet only about 50 to 60 percent of this population meets this recommendation.

Vitamin D is required for optimal calcium absorption and thus is important for bone health. Most infants and young children in the United States have adequate vitamin D intake because milk is supplemented and fortified with vitamin D. During adolescence, when consumption of dairy products decreases, vitamin D intake is less likely to be adequate and this can affect calcium absorption.

There is strong evidence that physical activity early in life contributes to higher peak bone mass. Exercise later in life can increase muscle mass and strength as much as twofold. Clinical trials have shown that exercise reduces the risk of falls by approximately 25 percent and falls are a major cause of fractures in people with osteoporosis.

What can you do to decrease your risk for osteoporosis? Get adequate calcium and exercise daily throughout your lifetime. Drink at least three eight-ounce glasses of milk a day. Fat free or one percent will give you the same amount of calcium as whole milk, but without the fat. If you are not a milk drinker, try eating nonfat or fat-free yogurt.

Leafy green vegetables will provide some calcium too, but you will need to eat them in large quantities to get as much as you do from dairy foods. To get as much calcium as you would in a cup of milk, you would have to eat two half-cup servings of turnip greens, two and 1= half-cup servings of mustard greens, 3> half-cup servings of kale, 5 half-cup servings of broccoli, 13 half- cup servings of pinto beans and almost 3 cups of almonds.

Be more physically active. At least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity is recommended every day.

For more information of healthy lifestyle choices and osteoporosis, contact the Nevada County Extension office.