RESEARCH - Early regular exercise key to bone health

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Early regular exercise key to bone health

6/9/2006

By: Reuters Health

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Jun 9 - Regular physical activity during

childhood and adolescence is important for building and maintaining peak

bone mass, to protect against the later development of the bone-thinning

disease osteoporosis, according to studies presented this week in Toronto at

the International Osteoporosis Foundation World Congress on Osteoporosis.

" To build strong bones, as experts have recommended, we need to encourage

children to participate in various kinds of physical activity regularly, "

Dr. Miryoung Lee told Reuters Health.

Lee and colleagues from State University, Dayton, Ohio, followed 54

boys and 45 girls to gauge the impact of habitual physical activity on bone

mass. " We have followed each of these participants at least three times

since they were 8 years old, " Lee said. In this way the researchers gathered

413 serial observations of physical activity type and level and bone mass

data.

While sport activity levels had no significant effect on boys' bone health,

higher sport activity levels led to greater increases in bone mass per year

in the total body and the hips of girls.

Leisure physical activity, on the other hand, proved important for increased

bone mass for the total body in boys and girls and the lumbar spine in boys.

" Our findings confirm that everyday physical activity is important for

optimal bone accrual during childhood consequently leading to higher peak

bone mass, " Lee said. Bone mass is an important predictor of osteoporosis

risk.

Results of two related studies reported at the meeting support the

importance of regular early exercise for bone health.

In one study involving 142 girls followed for four years, Finnish

researchers observed that those who stopped exercising had a much lower

increase in bone content than those who maintained their physical activity.

In the other study involving 1,000 adults aged 50 years or older,

investigators from Brazil found that those who were active during

adolescence had a 45 percent lower risk of developing osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis, in which bones become brittle and break easily, is one of the

most common and debilitating diseases. It's estimated that one out of three

women over age 50 and one out of five men will experience fractures due to

osteoporosis. A simple bone density test can spot osteoporosis and effective

treatments are available to help restore bone and reduce the risk of

fracture.

By Rauscher

Last Updated: 2006-06-09 8:33:38 -0400 (Reuters Health)

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Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org