Osteoporosis

As a Pre-Teen or Teenager, how do I prevent osteoporosis?

Your bones are living tissues made up of proteins and minerals, especially the mineral calcium. Bone is constantly changing, with bits of old bone being absorbed and replaced by new bone.  The National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) says you can think of bone as a bank account where you make “deposits” and “withdrawals” of bone tissue.

During your teenage years, hormones (estrogen in girls and testosterone in boys) help bones grow and strengthen. You can increase your bone density and help your bones reach their best strength until you reach your mid-20s, when your bones reach peak density. You will need a large bank account of bone tissue from which to draw when you are older. So, now is the perfect time for you to build strong bones to last a lifetime!

Osteoporosis is a disease where bones become fragile and porous and can break easily. Even simple activities like swinging a golf club or bending over to tie a shoe can cause a bone in the spine to break. Hips, ribs and wrist bones can break easily. Both women and men lose bone tissue as they get older due to declining hormones, but more women get osteoporosis than men.

To protect your bones and to prevent osteoporosis when you are older, build strong bones now.

Balanced Diet

A balanced diet and an active lifestyle are keys to bone health. You need to eat a balanced diet that is rich in calcium. You should get 1,200 to 1,500 mg of calcium every day. Eat foods like yogurt, cheese and cottage cheese, and drink milk, milkshakes and juices with calcium added. Talk to your parents and health-care provider about adding a calcium supplement if you aren’t getting enough calcium. If you drink colas that contain phosphates, limit these to no more than two a day, as they can interfere with your body’s absorption of calcium. Know that starving yourself or purging to lose weight (disorders called anorexia nervosa and bulimia) can be so harmful that you can develop osteoporosis by the time you’re in your mid-20s to mid-30s.

Active Lifestyle

Being active stimulates bones to grow strong. Since bones are living tissue, they need exercise to grow and stay healthy. Weight-bearing exercises like brisk walking, jogging, skating, tennis, volleyball, basketball, soccer, dancing and weight-lifting cause your muscles to work against gravity and build strong bones.

Toxic Habits

Some substances are toxic to bones and can slow bone growth and damage bone tissue. For example, smoking and drinking alcohol are harmful to your bones.

Do you want to learn more about this topic?

Mercy Women’s Center invites you to stop in and watch a 15-minute video, The Great Bone Robbery. You will join Sarah Strongbone, a private investigator, as she tracks down the culprit in the bone robbery that leads to the brittle bone disease – osteoporosis.

You also can schedule an appointment with a Mercy Licensed Dietitian by calling  319-398-6821.

For more information, click on www.girlpower.gov or www.nof.org