Osteoporosis
What causes osteoporosis?
Osteoporosis is simply a disease whereby the filling of the bone has gone beyond a certain limit that we would consider acceptable for that patient at his age. The problems of osteoporosis are that a patient can easily break a bone, because there is less calcium to strengthen the structure of that bone. Therefore, anybody who fractures a bone beyond the age of about 60-65 should seriously consider having a bone density scan done. This will measure the density of the bone and tell us whether he is at risk or not.
What are the best ways of preventing osteoporosis?
To prevent osteoporosis, a patient ought to have a high calcium intake in their diet. Calcium is contained mainly in milk products. Of course, we often don't advocate whole milk in older patients because they may have a concomitant cholesterol problem. We do recommend skimmed milk where the fat has been removed. We know that the calcium content of milk is not in the fat content. Therefore, skimmed milk is very useful to prevent osteoporosis, along with skimmed milk products such as yoghurt. The other simple measure to take to prevent osteoporosis is exercise. The pounding of bones on a hard surface when you walk, jog or run stimulates the bone to deposit more calcium within it. That's a very simple measure to prevent osteoporosis. Other measures include taking in the sun, because sun rays, or ultraviolet radiation, in small measures will be sufficient to active vitamin D to its active form, and help calcium to be deposited to the bones. The rest really involves medication and ought to be assessed by a doctor.
