A popular belief is that starting a calcium supplement later in life is a key to preventing Osteoporosis.  The supplement does help prevent the further break down of calcium in the bones, but does not add to their strength.

   Here's how our bone health works and why calcium intake prior to age 25 and healthy lifestyle through out life is the key to preventing Osteoporosis.  The skeletal system is the main reserve of calcium for our body.  We use calcium for most physiological processes, most prevalently in the use of all muscle contraction.  Our bones absorb calcium until they are completely developed at age 25.  Once we have reached this age our chances of storing more calcium in our reserves is negligible.  This is why starting young people on healthy diets rich in calcium and magnesium cannot be over emphasized.  A young persons lifestyle such as regular exercise, not smoking, and the least amount of corticosteriods (aldosterone, hydrocortisone, cortisone) as possible protects the young bones from calcium depletion during these important developmental years.

    After age 25, lifestyle and maintenance of proper blood calcium continue to be important in prevention.  As we maintain our blood calcium levels our bone calcium reserves are not utilized.  If our bone calcium use is minimal through out our lives we are left with healthy strong bones in our elder years.  This is the point of the information we have presented here- the use of calcium in our bodies and the keys to preventing the use of our bone calcium reserves.  Now that you have this information it's important to make the changes in your lifestyle that will result in good skeletal health.  Osteoporosis is preventable and we should be seeing much less of it in the future.

 

Increased Risk Factors:  

-Petite Caucasian women 

-Activity level of less than three 30- minute cardiovascular workouts a week

-Smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day

-Long term Corticosterois use

-Long term Anticonvulsant use (seizures)

-Drink more than 4 glasses of alcohol a week

-Drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day

-Had ovaries removed

-Premature menopause

-Had no children

-Drink soft drinks regularly

-Consume more than 4 ounces of meat on a daily basis

 

Prevention:

-Healthy bone building prior to age 25

-Four or more cardiovascular workouts a week

-Consume 3-5 servings of vegetables a day

-Consume at least 1 cup of leafy vegetables a day

-Calcium supplement of 800-1000 mg a day

-Vitamen D 400 IU/day

-Magnesium 400-800mg/day