Preventing Osteoporosis In Children
Typically, when parents think about their children's health, they don't think about their bones. But building healthy bones by adopting healthy nutritional and lifestyle habits in childhood is very important to help prevent osteoporosis and fractures later in life.
Osteoporosis, the disease that causes bones to become less dense and prone to fractures, has been called "a pediatric disease with geriatric consequences," because the bone mass attained in childhood and adolescence is a very important determinant of lifelong skeletal health. The health habits your kids are forming now can make--or literally, break--their bones as they age.
Why is childhood such an important time for bone development?
Bones are the framework for your child's growing body. Bones are living tissue that changes constantly, with bits of old bone being removed and replaced by new bone. You can think of bone as a bank account, where (with your help) your kids make "deposits" and "withdrawals" of bone tissue. During childhood and adolescence, much more bone is deposited than withdrawn as the skeleton grows in both size and density.
The amount of bone tissue in the skeleton (known as bone mass) can continue to increase until your child reaches his/her mid-20s. At that point, bones have reached their maximum strength and density, or peak bone mass. Up to 90 percent of peak bone mass is acquired by age 18 in girls and age 20 in boys, which makes youth the best time for your kids to "invest" in their bone health.
Building your children's "bone bank" account is a lot like saving for their education: the more they can put away when they're young, the longer it will last as they get older.
What is osteoporosis? Isn't it something old people get?
Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to become fragile and break easily. When someone has osteoporosis, it means his/her "bank account" of bone tissue has dropped to a low level. If there is significant bone loss, even sneezing or bending over to tie a shoe can cause a bone in the spine to break. Hips, ribs, and wrist bones also break easily. The fractures from osteoporosis can be painful and disfiguring. There is no cure for the disease.
Osteoporosis is most common in older people but can also occur in young and middle-aged adults. Optimizing peak bone mass and developing lifelong healthy bone behaviors during youth are important ways to prevent or minimize osteoporosis risk as an adult.
For More Information On Osteoporosis
Factors affecting peak bone mass
Peak bone mass is influenced by a variety of factors--some that you can't change, like gender and race, and some that you can, like nutrition and physical activity.
