Osteoporosis: Exercise; Watch the Alcohol

If they live long enough, almost every woman and most men will suffer from osteoporosis. Women who break their hips from osteoporosis must have a hip replacement immediately. Otherwise, they have a 20 percent chance of dying from complications within a year. A study from Australia shows that running strengthens the leg bones of both older and younger women (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, October 2005.) However, the research shows that bones used in an exercise are the only bones that are strengthened by that activity. So running strengthens leg bones, rowing strengthens arms and back, and lifting weights strengthen bones that are used for each lift.

Bones are not static. Certain cells called osteoblasts constantly bring calcium into bones to make them stronger and osteoclasts take calcium from bones. Exercise increases the rate that osteoblasts strengthen bones. Inactivity slows osteoblastic activity to weaken bones. So any exercise that places force on a bone will strengthen that bone.

The person most likely to suffer from osteoporosis has pale skin, is very thin and drinks a lot of alcohol. Pale people often do not get enough sunlight to meet their needs for the bone-strengthening vitamin D; skinny people often miss essential nutrients necessary for bone health; and heavy drinking inhibits new bone from forming (Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, December, 2005). So far, most studies show that people can take up to two drinks a day without harming their health. A drink is five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or two thirds of a shot glass of hard alcohol. However, exceeding that amount can hasten the onset of osteoporosis, in which the slightest trauma can break bones and they will heal much more slowly than normal.


by Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

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