Healthy Bones and Osteoporosis

We are delighted to welcome back Brandi Simpson, who wrote the popular post on her week-long raw food diet experience. This time she is sharing her vast knowledge on osteoporosis. I met Brandi when we were consulting for a pharmaceutical firm. She worked on their osteoporosis drug, and has since worked extensively in the area. I learned a lot of things from this post - I had no idea that my food goes into my bones!

It’s easy to get caught up in thinking about how what we eat today makes us feel and look now. And I know you mindful eaters are concerned about eating your fruits and vegetables to stave off cancer, diabetes, heart disease and other conditions associated with aging. But have you given much thought to your bones lately?

Just like every other system in your body, your bones cells are constantly turning over. Surprisingly, the cells that make up your skeleton today will be no where to be found five or six years from now. This is because about 20% of the cells of your skeleton turn over each year. A little sobering when you consider the four years in college (before you became a mindful eater) when maybe you lived on coffee, beer, and cheese puffs. Those four years contributed to most of the skeleton you had at 23! It’s a wonder you didn’t break a hip!

This isn’t to say that if your diet remains unchanged your bones remodel every 5 or so years to the same state they were in 5 years earlier. In fact, about 80-90% of your adult bone mass was acquired by age 20. After age 20, the real battle becomes trying to maintain the bone mass that you have. This is actually challenging as we tend to lose bone mass as we age and our habits (as well as our genetics) make a big difference.

It probably didn’t strike you until a few years after you started growing. But every time you gave grandma/grandpa/great aunt Edna a hug you noticed that they seemed to be shrinking. They probably were! Long before osteoporosis causes broken hips (which, by the way can even lead to death) it causes vertebral fractures. In fact, many physicians believe that vertebral fracture should be suspected in any woman over 45 experiencing back pain. Over 25% of post menopausal women have at least one vertebral fracture. Over time, osteoporosis causes the vertebra to fracture and compress, resulting in loss of height, loss of spinal mobility, and significant pain.

But can’t they cure osteoporosis these days? No! Some drugs can slow the re-absorption process, but they do so at the cost of long term bone remodeling. In fact, the seller of the world’s most successful osteoporosis drug, Merck, is currently facing several court cases because it is believed that its therapy can cause osteonecrosis (that is, bone death), most commonly in the jaw. There are other therapies that have been shown to improve bone mass and reduce fracture risk - but these drugs also have a lot of risks.  If someone has severe osteoporosis, they really have no choice but to either accept the risk of fracture or the side effects that come with the therapies. But you are far from that decision. Act now to save your skeleton!

What can you do?

• Eat a diet high in calcium and vitamin D.  These nutrients aren’t found exclusively in dairy products.  Dark leafy greens are excellent sources of calcium.  Fatty fish and eggs are good sources of vitamin D. 
• Avoid smoking and excessive alcohol (yup - these affect your bone mass along with everything else).
• Do weight bearing exercise!  Running and jumping are actually great for your bones!  Do it before your knees can’t take it!  Weight lifting positively affects your bone mass too.  So if lifting your suitcase to get it into the overhead bin isn’t enough - now you can do it for your bones!
• Know your risks:  non-Hispanic Caucasian and Asian women have higher risks as do smokers (stop that!), those with small frames, and individuals who have taken corticosteroids for long periods of time (like those with asthma.) 

What I ate: Kashi Go Lean cereal, Fage 2% Greek yogurt, nectarine; salad with mixed greens, hard-boiled egg,  beets, olives, red peppers, and balsamic dressing; 1.5 oz of pretzels (I know, I know); 2 clementines; homemade chicken noodle soup with organic chicken and homemade noodles; 1 fruit juice sweetened Cascade farms yogurt.

Exercise: 40 minutes on elliptical, 10 minutes hard running at 5% incline