Osteoporosis is a disease of bone metabolism, they lose calcium and therefore its usual structure and its resistance to shock, break easily. The reservoir of calcium in bones, acquired from childhood, is the main protection, but can still be time to avoid it.
1. What is Osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis. The bones were decalcified and weaken greatly affect quality of life. Osteoporosis is a metabolic disease of bone (not joint, such as osteoarthritis). In her bones lose calcium and regular structure, thereby reducing their resistance to shock, break easily.
It mainly affects the vertebrae and long bones of the arms and legs. Osteoporosis means “porous bones”. Bones may weaken to the point that the daily action as bending, lifting or even coughing can cause a fracture.Therefore, osteoporosis is a problem for the propensity to fracture.
2. Consequences
His most dangerous consequence does not usually appear until one internally and in old age: it is the famous hip fracture, which kills many elderly people.
Before manifests as a variant of fracture of the wrist, with falls seemingly trivial, which is called a Colles fracture, or compression fractures of one or more vertebrae.
3. The quality of our bones
The quality of bone varies with age. The best time is between 25 and 30 years, when the bone reaches its maximum strength and toughness.
The risk of developing osteoporosis depends on how much bone mass is acquired between 25 and 35 years of age. The amount of this bone mass depends on the amount of calcium that is ingested from birth to this age group.
Hence the importance of adequate intake of calcium-rich foods.
After that age, everyone starts to suffer (especially whites)-scaling is very slow, which is accompanied by a decrease in total bone density.
This loss of density is much more marked in women after menopause. Begins to be significant to 60 years and is especially dangerous one or two decades later. It is therefore essential to have a balanced diet is not missing the extra contributions of calcium.
4. Risk groups
As in many other diseases, they get to know ever better the characteristics that make a person more at risk for osteoporosis:
- Women: the number of osteoporotic women is twice that of men with this disease. This is partly because women are less bone mass in youth, and partly to the menopause and the associated reduction in estrogen levels. Estrogens are female hormones that help, among other things, to maintain healthy bone. Osteoporosis in men is rare, except at very advanced ages (over seventy or eighty years) or in the presence of diseases or treatments that produce it.
- Age: the risk of osteoporosis increases rapidly with age. It is a disease whose causes can be traced back to childhood and youth, and whose consequences are suffering in old age.
- Race: Caucasian whites (that of most of Europe) is the greatest risk. The black population is the group with lower risk of this disease, followed by Hispanic Americans and Asians.
- Smoking: The smoking accelerates bone loss.
- Family history: having a mother or sister with osteoporosis increases the risk for osteoporosis.
- Lack of estrogen. Indeed, time appears to depend on estrogen exposure throughout life. The longer, less risk, ie, late menopause reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
- Drugs: antiepileptic drugs and corticosteroids are very harmful to the bones if taken so long. If you receive these treatments for any reason may need preventive treatment of osteoporosis. By contrast, some diuretics may protect against fractures.
- Other diseases: the removal of the stomach and other digestive tract diseases (like Crohn’s disease) may reduce gastrointestinal absorption of calcium. Anorexia nervosa can cause significant loss of bone mass. Hyperthyroidism also causes osteoporosis if not treated.
5. How can we prevent it?
To prevent fractures, it must preserve the bone structure and adequate calcium. This can be done by increasing peak bone density in youth or by slowing the losses suffered over the years.
Some of the most important preventive measures to avoid suffering from the illness must be made before age 30. Is to increase calcium intake and exercise to get achieve a good supply of bone.
Although unsuccessful then take much longer to become so brittle as to fracture. Unfortunately, many people have passed this age and could not care then.
These people want to stop bone loss, and this is not easy. To begin with, can ingest enough calcium and vitamin D, spend enough time outdoors (requires sunlight to activate vitamin D) and exercise.
These measures reduce losses, and are relatively simple to everyone the meet. Many older people are unable to get to a diet with all the calcium and vitamin D they need.
In this case, they can take tablets containing these two substances, or better yet, make food with extra calcium intake as milk or calcium-fortified yogurt.
In women, bone loss is associated with age is due to the amount of hormone loss that occurs at menopause.
The lack of estrogen accelerates decalcification. This acceleration of the decrease postmenopausal bone density can only be stopped by administering hormones that are no longer produced in the body.
In fact, it has already demonstrated that the use of hormones after menopause reduces the risk of vertebral or hip fracture in the future. It therefore seems reasonable that at least women who are at risk for osteoporosis (thin those who smoke or who have family history, for example) take hormones after menopause. The fracture risk can be reduced to 50%.
Other preventive measures include:
- Quitting smoking and alcohol abuse.
- Eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin D supplements or fortified with these substances.
- Make exercise. Exercise helps strengthen bones because the bone is more resistant forms.
6. Possible treatments
When osteoporosis is becoming important, it is necessary to try a treatment to halt the loss of weight, if possible increase of new bone density and, above all, to decrease the risk of fractures.
The doctor should advise you about treatment options that best fit your personal physical condition.
In summary, these options are:
- Estrogen replacement therapy (TES) or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) estrogen therapy is used both for prevention and for treatment of osteoporosis. Reduces bone loss, increases bone density in the spine and hip, and reduces the risk of fracture of spine and hip in postmenopausal women.
- Bisphosphonates: etidronate, alendronate, risedronate and other drugs in this class are used both for prevention and for treatment of osteoporosis. Reduce bone loss, increase bone density in the spine and hip, and reduce the risk of fracture of spine and hip. They have become the most effective group and therefore more used nowadays, although each has its side effects, which must be taken into account.
- Calcitonin: This is a natural hormone involved in calcium regulation and bone metabolism. Calcitonin slows bone loss, increase bone density in the spine and can relieve pain associated with bone fractures in women at least five years after menopause. Appears to reduce the risk of fractures, although not clearly demonstrated.
- Raloxifene: This new drug may help prevent osteoporosis. Apparently prevents bone loss in the spine, hip and the rest of the skeleton. It appears that the effect on the spine is not as strong as the other treatments, but its effect on the hip and the rest of the skeleton seem comparable. Yet known whether decreasing the risk of fractures.
Tags: balanced diet, bone loss, calcium in bones, Colles fracture, disease of bone, lack of estrogen, metabolic disease of bone, Prevevt Osteoporosis, quality of bone, What is Osteoporosis?
