osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease that affects your bones. As you age your bones become thin and brittle and sponge like. Many holes accumulate which makes them much easier to break. Osteoporosis usually hits a person after the age of 60 and is most common in women, but men can get it as well. There are many causes of osteoporosis. During childhood years and teen years, new bone grows faster than existing bone is absorbed by the body. However, at the age of about 30, the process of bone growth begins to reverse. In the reverse stage, bone is dissolved and is absorbed faster than new bone is made, and your bones become thinner. For women, bone loss increases around the time when they reach menopause and there is a decrease in production on estrogen from ovaries. In contrast, testosterone, the male sex hormone, protects men from bone loss. Where women tend to see osteoporosis around their sixties, men tend to get osteoporosis around the age of 65, when their testosterone is declining. Of course in men and women, the older you get, the more likely you are to have osteoporosis. There are also a few factors that contribute to specifically the thinning of bones. One is not getting enough calcium. Calcium should be a major part of your diet to help build strong and healthy bones. Also, not receiving enough vitamin D as well as phosphorus both contribute to bone thinning. One interesting fact is that bone thinning is hereditary. If a parent has a low bone mass then it most likely passed from the parent to the child. I can remember when I was younger seeing all the Got Milk ads in magazines showing how milk is vital for strong and healthy bones. Ever since I was younger, milk has always been a big part of my diet.