Aging Begins at 30

Brittle Bones Benefit From Calcium

"Bone Vivant" said the book title in Toronto, and I did a double take. Did they mean "Bon Vivant?" No they did not. It was a book written by Jan Main for the Osteoporosis Society of Canada and published by Macmillan Canada. It was full of calcium-enriched foods that were beautiful to behold in colored pictures and "heavenly to eat."

One in four women and one in eight men over the age of 50 has osteoporosis The bone weight is low. What bone there is, is normal but there isn’t enough. The bones are fragile and fractures occur.

Bones are living, and they grow, shrink and remold themselves. By age 15 to 20 bones stop lengthening and soon a peak bone weight is reached. After 30, both men and women lose about 1% of their bone weight yearly. Women after menopause lose even more. Then, if the original bone mass in one’s teen years was low, a slip on the ice, a hug, or even a sneeze can cause a fracture. A silent disease has robbed you of calcium. The breaks can occur in the backbone vertebrae with loss of height or there can be the development of a low neck hump. Regular x-rays will not show osteoporosis until you have lost a quarter of your bone density. Bone densitometry will show the disease much sooner.

These problems can be greatly helped with medicine, regular exercise, and a calcium-rich diet. Bone Vivant gives recipes that help increase calcium in tasty meals.

First, author Jan Main lists common foods with calcium content by cup, tablespoon, or gram. Then lists whether it is easily available from the diet and juxtaposes these tables with how much calcium you need by sex and age. There are warnings against too much protein, too much salt, or too much caffeine; all of which leech out calcium in the urine. The rest of the book consists of recipes for "morning starts," beverages, sauces and condiments, appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, grains, casseroles, vegetables, main courses, and as she expresses, it "sweet endings." The recipe titles are intriguing and tempting such as "crispy, buttery, and melt-in-your-mouth shortbreads" or "rhubarb, fig, and ginger chutney," or light and luscious cheesecakes. Each recipe is analyzed for calcium but also for calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate, dietary fiber, sodium, and magnesium.

There is an intriguing addendum on bone-building exercises, as bones require the pull of muscles and the force of gravity to create electric charges in the bone tissue that increase calcium deposition. Astronauts, deprived of gravity, lose bone mass in orbit, especially in their feet and hands. Now we have few physical chores to do, little walking or stair climbing, and TV and the computers encourage inactivity. Our bones miss the needed electrical stimulation. At any age our bones will respond to increased physical activity, and this will also decrease our risk of falling by improving our balance. The book’s notes tell you how 36 different exercises can be built into your daily life. Good bone living indeed!

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See related Patient Topics Bones, Joints and Muscles, Calcium, Food, Nutrition and Metabolism, Osteoporosis, Seniors' Health, Vitamin and Mineral Supplements or Women's Health.

See related Provider Topics Bones, Joints and Muscles, Calcium, Food, Nutrition and Metabolism, Osteoporosis, Seniors' Health or Women's Health.

All contents copyright © 1992-2004 the Author(s) and The University of Iowa. All rights reserved.

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