Bones play many roles in your body — providing structure, protecting organs, anchoring muscles and storing calcium – but the problem is that they’re continuously changing. When you’re young it’s important to take care of bone health because your bones are growing and you need the optimum bone mass possible, and then after the age of 30 you start to lose bone mass, which increases your risk for fractures and osteoporosis — a condition that causes bones to become weak and brittle. As a general rule, the higher your peak bone mass, the more bone you have “in the bank” and the less likely you are to develop osteoporosis as you age, but a lot of factors can affect your bone health:
1. Calcium intake: You may have learned this years ago at school but that doesn’t mean you can put calcium away now you’ve graduated. Your calcium intake becomes even more important as you age as a diet low in calcium contributes to diminished bone density, early bone loss and an increased risk of fractures.
2. Physical activity: There’s no denying that exercise is good for your wellbeing; it helps you to maintain a healthy weight and prevent a myriad of health concerns – one of which being osteoporosis. If you don’t exercise regularly, your risk of this brittle bone disease is far higher than your more-active peers.
3. Smoking and drinking: According to recent research, tobacco weakens your bones, as well as doing all the other nasty things to your wellness that everyone knows about, so quitting is a solid idea. Moreover, if you drink more than two alcoholic drinks a day on a regular basis, you can increase your risk of osteoporosis. This is because alcohol can interfere with your body’s ability to absorb calcium.
4. Gender and age: Although it’s a common misconception that men don’t have to worry about osteoporosis, the fact remains that you’re at a greater risk of the brittle bone disease if you’re a woman. This is because women have less bone tissue than men, especially as you get older. The ageing process and menopause cause bones to become weaker and thinner, due to waning oestrogen levels. Again, this doesn’t mean that men are off the hook, but it does mean that older women have to be particularly vigilant about bone health.
5. Body type: If you’re extremely thin – meaning you have a body mass index of 19 or less – or have a small body frame, you’re also at an increased risk for osteoporosis. This is due to the fact that you have less bone mass to draw from as you age.
6. Race and family history: People of Asian descent and white people are at the greatest risk of osteoporosis. In addition, if you have a parent or sibling who has osteoporosis, you are also put at a greater risk — especially if you also have a family history of fractures.
7. Hormone levels: As we’ve previously mentioned, bone loss increases dramatically at menopause for women due to your dropping oestrogen levels but, for the same reason, your osteoporosis risk is increased if you suffer from amenorrhea. This occurs prior to menopause and is categorised by prolonged periods (of time) in which you do not menstruate. For men (see, I told you men weren’t off the hook) low testosterone levels can cause a loss of bone mass. Plus, no matter who you are, if you have too much thyroid hormone, you can also experience increased bone loss.
8. Health conditions: Stomach surgery (gastrectomy) and weight-loss surgery can affect your body’s ability to absorb calcium, as can conditions such as Crohn’s disease, celiac disease and Cushing’s disease. Moreover, if you have anorexia or bulimia, you are at further risk of bone loss.
9. Medications: If you take corticosteroid medications, such as prednisone, cortisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone, over a long period of time, you are causing damage to your bones. Other drugs that may increase the risk of osteoporosis include aromatase inhibitors to treat breast cancer, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, methotrexate, some anti-seizure medications and proton pump inhibitors.