Collegiate Times

Although typically considered a problem for the elderly, adjusting your lifestyle, no matter what your age, can have a drastic effect on maintaining the bone density required to stave off bone-brittling diseases, such as osteoporosis.

According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 10 million people nationwide are afflicted with osteoporosis and over 30 million have low bone mass and are at immediate risk of acquiring the disease.

Notorious for affecting postmenopausal women, osteoporosis is mistakenly assumed to be a disease that never affects men, but 20 percent of all Americans with the disease are in fact men. Can anything be done to prevent this disease, or is it an inevitable part of aging?

Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mass and porous, fragile bones that are prone to fractures, especially in the hip, spine and wrists. The key to preventing this disease is simply to maintain bone mass, which is usually achieved more easily in men than women for several reasons, including hormonal differences.

"Men typically have larger bodies and more muscle mass than women, so their bones are stronger to support their larger frame," said Kyle Creamer, a member of the department of human nutrition, foods and exercise.

Just like muscles, bones will respond accordingly to the stresses that we place on them during our everyday lives. Gravity is one such stress, and astronauts commonly experience a decrease in bone density in space because their bones are not needed to support the body's weight to the degree that they would on Earth.

However, with decreasing levels of hormones in aging adults, especially that of estrogen in postmenopausal women, many people see a gradual decline in bone density after the age of 30 and will need to take additional measures to prevent further bone loss.

Preventing osteoporosis is a much easier task than curing it. The peak years to build bone mass are between ages 10 to 30, and this process requires a combination of diet and exercise to optimize bone growth before the years when osteoporosis usually appears. As mentioned before, your bones will respond to the demands you place on them, and gravity alone is not enough of a stress to ward off osteoporosis.

However, participating in weight-bearing activities such as running, basketball and dancing allows your body to work against gravity to build stronger bones. Resistance training also does wonders for improving bone health, in particular lifting weights and using weight machines; but activities like biking and swimming in place a lot less stress on the skeleton and are not as effective in building bone mass.

Diet also plays an important role in the formation of bone. Adequate consumption of calcium and Vitamin D is the primary goal for those trying to maintain bone mass by dietary intervention. Found abundantly in almost all dairy products, the mineral calcium is actively used in the bone formation process. Vitamin D plays a strong role in calcium's absorption from the small intestine into the bloodstream, where it can be transported to the bones. While calcium can only be obtained through eating these foods, the human body can synthesize vitamin D through exposure to the sun. But many foods are now fortified with this vitamin, specifically milk, which is also a great natural source of calcium.

So which is more important in building strong bones, a diet with sufficient calcium and vitamin D, or regular weight-bearing exercise?

"It takes a combination of both," said Dr. Robert Hulver, a professor of metabolic nutrition at Tech.

Exercise provides the appropriate stress for the bones to consistently remodel themselves and maintain their density and build new bone tissue, but enough calcium must be present for optimal bone growth to occur.

While exercising and modifying diet will definitely help those already diagnosed with osteoporosis or those at risk, young adults and teenagers need to take similar measures to promote bone development while they are young. Early intervention through weight-bearing exercise and maintaining a diet with sufficient calcium will help prevent the uncomfortable symptoms and inconvenience of weakening bones and osteoporosis later in life.