Bone Health and Children - How Parents Can Help

Parents regularly discuss their children’s health with their health care providers but rarely do they discuss their kid’s bone health, even though bone health is a central part of a kid’s overall health. Building strong bones by adopting nutritional and healthy lifestyle habits in childhood is very important and helps prevent bone loss and osteoporosis later in life.

Childhood, defined here as between infancy and adolescence, is a critical period for bone development. During this period, bones are actively formed through a process called remodeling, which involves breaking down old bones and building new ones. During preteen and adolescence, more bones are built than broken down and as a result, bone growth takes place during these periods. Kids are generally encouraged to consume foods rich in calcium because their bones need the mineral for development.

Most of the calcium (about 99%) in a kid’s body is found in his/her bone, which is used to form bone tissue. The amount of bone tissue in a given bone is commonly referred to as bone mass. As more calcium is deposited in bones, more bone tissue is made. This helps bones increase in strength and density, and this process continues until bone mass peaks, meaning that a person’s bones have achieved their maximum strength and density.

Experts do not agree on the precise age when bone mass peaks but for most people, it peaks by age 30. However, medical experts believe that 99% of peak bone mass is actually acquired by age 18 in girls and age 20 in boys, which makes youth the most important time to invest in a kid’s bone health. After this point, bone growth slows down considerably.

The question is what can a Mom do to help? Moms can do two important things: Encourage her kids to develop healthy eating habits and to get plenty physical activity. Encouraging your kids to adopt proper eating habits now can make all the difference in the world as they age. One way to accomplish this goal is to lead by example. Believe it or not, your kids watch everything you do- good or bad and they are unlikely to do what you say rather than what you do.

The Academy of Sciences recommends that kids 4 - 8 years old should get 800 milligrams of calcium a day while those 9 – 18 years old should get 1300 milligrams. These intake levels can be easily met through balanced diet that includes dairy products, fruits, and vegetables as well as calcium fortified breakfast cereals and juice. Steps as simple as replacing a can of soda each day with low-fat milk can make a huge difference in your kid’s bone development.

Also, your kids need vitamin D each day. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium in the small intestine. The main sources of vitamin D are fortified food and sunlight. Most active kids do not have any trouble making enough vitamin D in their skin from sunlight. Exposure to sunlight for up to 15 minutes a day may be all they need to meet their vitamin D requirement.

In addition to promoting healthy eating, moms can encourage their kids to get involved in regular physical activity that puts stress on their bones. Putting stress on bones helps them increase in size and strength. There are many physical activities that are good for the bone. A few examples are running, walking, aerobics, softball, baseball, basketball, table and lawn tennis, dancing, skating, football, and weight lifting.

Bone health is an important part of a kid’s health, and moms can help their kids build strong bones. Encouraging them to eat foods rich in calcium and vitamin D is one way to achieve this goal; the other is getting them involved in regular physical activity. When it comes to bone health, there is such a thing as “too little, too late.” The health habits you help your kids form today can make, or literally break, their bones later in life.

Article Tags: Calcium, Osteoporosis, Vitamin D, Bone Health, Foods Rich In Calcium, Bone Health And Children

About the Author:
Chima Njoku is a freelance medical writer and publisher of free consumer friendly information on vitamins and minerals. To learn more about how calcium and vitamin D promote bone health, go to http://healthsolutionsontheweb.com/Calcium.html

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/bone-health-and-children-how-parents-can-help-348630.html

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Building bones

We tend think of our bones as just the scaffolding that holds us together, but they also protect our vital organs. And as we age, we need to continue getting calcium and to exercise to keep our bones healthy.

So when you're pumping iron at the gym or climbing a fourteener, you're doing it not only for your heart and overall health, but for your bones, too. Bone requires stress and strain to stay dense and strong, so walking, hiking, racquet sports and weight lifting are good exercises.

Bones are living tissue with the ability to renew and repair themselves. While they feel hard on the outside, bones have a spongy honeycomb of busy cells inside that are hard at work demolishing old bone and rebuilding with new. This process, known as "remodeling," can last three to six months, which is why a broken bone seems to take forever to fully heal.

The keys to keeping bones strong and resilient are proper nutrition and weight-bearing physical activity.

Calcium is the obvious and most important nutrient in building strong bones. Good sources are dairy foods such as yogurt, skim milk, cheese and cottage cheese, as well as spinach, collards, oranges, canned salmon, nuts, beans and peas.

Many orange juice companies fortify their products with calcium because it absorbs well in the presence of vitamin C.

But vitamin D is the real workhorse because without it calcium does not absorb properly. We produce vitamin D when our skin is exposed to sunshine and ingest it from food and supplements. Primary food sources are fish liver oils, fatty fish (such as salmon, mackerel, catfish, sardines, tuna) mushrooms and whole egg.

Past 50, our bodies become less adept at absorbing vitamin D. Other groups at risk for reduced vitamin D absorption are people in northern climes where there is less seasonal sunshine and those with high skin pigmentation (particularly people of African descent). For these three groups in particular, attention to diet and supplementation becomes crucial.

Potassium and vitamins C and K — found in fruits and vegetables — are also essential for bone health, along with magnesium, which is found primarily in nuts and seeds. A minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and a small serving of nuts and seeds (pumpkin is the best) are important for preserving bone.

Fruits and vegetables are important because they are alkaline and serve to neutralize the acid produced by grain-based and protein foods, writes Bonnie Liebman in the Nutrition Action Health Letter's January-February issue. Liebman is director of nutrition for Center for Science in the Public Interest. If the body is too acidic, it will dissolve bone (an alkaline reservoir) to neutralize the acid. This is true whenever your body signals that it needs more calcium — it takes what it needs from your own bone if it is not supplied from the diet and/or created by weight-bearing exercise.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation compares bone maintenance to a savings account: There is only as much in the account as you deposit, primarily from before puberty until about age 30. The body has all the calcium it needs in the bones and teeth but allowing these withdrawals from your bone bank will cause osteoporosis. This is a debilitating disease where the bones become frail and brittle and often leads to severe disability if a bone breaks after a fall. Women in particular need to "deposit" as much bone mass as possible into their "account" because, of the 10 million Americans with osteoporosis, 8 million are women.

Healthy bones require stress and strain. The pulling action of the muscles and their connective tissues against the surface of the bone causes the bone-making cells (osteoblasts) to make bones dense and strong. Walking, jogging, dancing, hiking, snowshoeing, racquet sports (tennis, racquetball, squash), and especially weight lifting are good exercises. Swimming and bicycling don't put stress on the bones, so they're not considered good for building bone strength.

According to a study on the effects of strength training on bone density, published in 1994 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, post-menopausal women who strength-trained twice a week for a year increased their bone density compared with a sedentary control group. The study was conducted by Miriam Nelson, director of the Center for Physical Fitness at the School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, and her colleagues. "High-intensity strength training exercises are an effective and feasible means to preserve bone density while improving muscle mass, strength and balance," the study found.

Physicians typically schedule a bone-mass measurement test to establish a baseline for bone density when a woman is entering menopause. This is important because estrogen, among other functions, stimulates bone-building osteoblasts and suppresses bone- dissolving osteoclasts. As estrogen levels decline, the balance tips towards the bone-destroying osteoclasts. By establishing a baseline, a physician can monitor bone mineral density more effectively.

Some bone-density machines measure hip, spine and whole body, and others are designed to measure peripheral bones such as wrist, finger, shinbone and the heel of the foot. They typically require only that you lie or sit down, depending on the type of machine recommended for you.

Testing will let you know what shape your bones are in. Then it's up to you to get the calcium, vitamins and exercise to keep them strong.

Resources
"Strong Women, Strong Bones," by Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D. (Perigee, 2000, $14.95)

"Ageless Spine, Lasting Health," by Kathleen Porter (Synergy Books, 2006, $24.95)

"Physical Activity and Bone Health," by Karim Khan (Human Kinetics, 2001, $69)

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 800-223-9994

Linda J. Buch is a certified fitness trainer in Denver; linda@LJbalance.com

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/fitness/ci_8411857

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Levels of Testosterone Linked to Broken Bones in Older Men

(January 14, 2008 - Insidermedicine) Having low blood levels of the male hormone testosterone could be a risk factor for fractures in men over 60, according to research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Here are some facts about osteoporosis and fracture risk in men:

• Osteoporosis is a condition that develops with aging and the use of certain drugs in which bone mass is lost, leading to more fragile bones and an increased risk of fractures.

• While most commonly associated with women, as many as one-third of fractures related to osteoporosis occur in men.

• Men who have had a previous osteoporosis-related fracture have three to four times the risk of having another fracture as women of the same age with a fracture.

Researchers out of the University of Sydney assessed the bone mineral density (BMD) and lifestyle factors of over 600 men whose average age was nearly 73 years. They observed these men for up to 16 years, keeping track of their blood levels of testosterone and any bone fractures that occurred.

Low blood levels of testosterone were found to be linked with an increased risk for fracture in these men. After accounting for other factors known to affect the risk of fracture, including age, weight, BMD, fracture history, smoking status, and calcium intake, low testosterone remained an important risk factor.

Based on these findings, the authors conclude that low testosterone levels are a risk factor for fracture in men over 60. They suggest that physicians could use measures of blood levels of testosterone to help determine fracture risk in their male patients over 60.

Source: http://www.insidermedicine.ca/archives/Levels_of_Testosterone_Linked_to_Broken_Bones_in_Older_Men_2070.aspx

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Depression Raises Osteoporosis Risk For Premenopausal Women

A woman who suffers from depression is more likely to reach the menopause with a higher risk of bone fractures (osteoporosis), compared to a woman who does not have depression. In a study published inArchives of Internal Medicine it was found that 17% of women with depression had less bone mass in a section of their hip, called the femoral neck, compared to 2% of women who did not have depression.

Low bone mass in the lumbar spine was found in 20% of depressed women, compared to 9% of non-depressed women. An X-ray technique called DXA scanning was used to measure bone mass.

The researchers, from the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) explained that women with depression have immune systems which are overactive. Their bodies overproduce a chemical that leads to bone loss - this chemical, known as IL-6, also promotes inflammation.

The study involved 133 women, 89 depressed and 44 non-depressed. They were aged 21-45. All the women had the same risk factors, with the exception of depression. They had similar intakes of calcium, caffeine, alcohol - their use of tobacco was also similar, as were their levels of physical fitness, use of oral contraceptives, and their age of first menstrual period.

The scientists found that the hip bones of depressed women were especially susceptible to thinning - these bones fracture more frequently among older people with osteoporosis. The lower bone mass puts the patient at higher risk of costly, and sometimes fatal fractures.

NIMH Deputy Director Richard Nakamura, PhD, said "Osteoporosis is a silent disease. Too often, the first symptom a clinician sees is when a patient shows up with a broken bone. Now we know that depression can serve as a red flag - that depressed women are more likely than other women to approach menopause already at higher risk of fractures."

During our youth bone mass reaches its peak - after that it continues slowly thinning for the rest of our lives, thinning at a faster rate after a woman's menopause, the researchers explained. The authors stressed that the factor linking premenopausal osteoporosis risk in their study was definitely depression.

There was no association between the severity of depression and the amount of bone mass loss.

The immune-system imbalance experienced by some depressed women may be linked to excessive adrenalin, the researchers say. It is well know that depressed people produce more adrenalin - adrenalin can over-stimulate the immune system.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91132.php

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