Osteoporosis

What is osteoporosis?

It is the thinning of the bones. It makes the bones more fragile, thus they break more easily. It's not usually noticed until major problems, such as hip fractures occur. It's more common in elderly women, but it can occur in men and younger people.

Risk factors of osteoporosis

• Menopause - increases bone loss
  
• Low body mass or low percentage of body fat
  
• Age - bone mass declines with age
• Gastrointestinal diseases
• Hematologic disorders e.g. thalassemia and pernicious anaemia
• Hypogondal states e.g. amenorrhea
• Use of certain medications e.g. glucocorticoids, anticonvulsants, cytotoxic drugs, immunosuppressants, gonadotrophin releasing hormone agonists, benzodiazepines, heparin, progesterone, tamoxifen, supraphysiologic thyroxine
• Cigarette smoking
• Inactivity
• High alcohol intake
• High caffiene intake
• Low vitamin D intake
• Low calcium intake
• Gender - females are more likely to develop to osteoporosis than males 

How can I preserve the health of bones?

Build and maintain the peak bone mass (PBM) to keep your bones strong. PBM is reached by about age 30 years. This is mostly genetically determined, but it can be altered by lifestyle factors, such as exercise, diet and hormonal status. The following are ways that you can build and maintain the PBM of your bones:

• Getting enough calcium from the diet - good sources are milk and milk products, sardines, broccoli, tofu, calcium fortified beverages.
• Getting plenty of vitamin D - sources include sunlight, oily fish, butter, eggs, and liver.
• Consuming enough zinc - good sources of zinc are; seafood, peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, seasame seeds, bread, vegetables, unrefined cereals, low fat milk and milk products.
  
• Having adequate levels of  Vitamin K in your diet - vitamin K is found in leafy green vegetables (e.g. Brussell sprouts, spinach, and spring greens); soyabean, rapeseed, cotton seed and olive oils.
  
• Including adequate levels of magnesium in your diet - good sources include: whole grains, legumes, green leafy vegetables, tofu, meat, fruit and dairy products.
  
• Limiting salt intake 
• Being smokefree
• Participating in regular, moderate weight bearing exercise (e.g. walking and swimming)
  

 See the Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Adults and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoporosis for more information on osteoporosis.

What are good sources of calcium?

• Milk and milk products
• Wholemeal bread
• Peanuts and almonds
  
• Broccoli and spinach
  
• Baked beans and haricot beans
  
• Tofu
• Fortified soy and fortified orange drinks
• Sardines, canned salmon, mussels, canned shrimps

How much calcium do we need?

• The recommended dietary intake (RDI) for calcium for teenage boys and girls aged 14-18 years  is 1300mg per day
• The RDI for calcium for men and women aged 19-50 years is 1000mg per day.
• The RDI for calcium for men aged 51-70 years is 1000mg per day and for women aged 51-70 the RDI is 1300mg per day

Calcium content of some common foods.

See  the Food and Nutrition Guidelines for Healthy Adults for more information on calcium