Collin County Living Well Magazine Fall 2014 | Page 41

Why Bone Health Is Important
By Anupam Singhal, MD

W

hen you think about staying healthy,
you probably think about making lifestyle changes to prevent conditions like
cancer and heart disease. Keeping your
bones healthy to prevent osteoporosis may not be at the top of the wellness list. But it
should be.
Osteoporosis, which means “porous bone,” is a
disease characterized by low bone mass (bone
thinning) that leads to bones becoming weak and breaking more easily.
Throughout your lifetime, old bone is
removed (a process called resorption)
and new bone is added to the skeleton
(a process called formation). As we
age, the rate at which old bone is removed and new bone is formed changes.
Bone resorption slowly begins to exceed
bone formation and, as a result, osteoporosis can occur.
Osteoporosis is much more common than you
might think. In fact, the National Osteoporosis
Foundation states that osteoporosis is a major
public health threat for an estimated 44 million
Americans (80% of whom are women). Of that
total, it is estimated that 10 million already have
the disease and nearly 34 million have abnormally low bone mass, placing them at increased
risk for osteoporosis. Estimates also suggest
that about half of all women and one in four
men older than 50 will break a bone because
of osteoporosis. The Surgeon General reported
that by 2020, half of all Americans over 50 will
be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low bone mass.
With the 50+ year old population growing, I believe this disease will continue to be a significant medical issue.
Breaking a bone is serious, especially when you’re older.
Osteoporosis is responsible for more than two million fractures annually in the U.S. Broken bones due to osteoporosis
are most likely to occur