osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to become fragile and break easily. when someone has osteoporosis it means his/her "bank account" of bone tissue has dropped to a low level. if there is significant bone loss even sneezing or bending over to tie a shoe can cause a bone in the spine to break. hips ribs and wrist bones also break easily. the fractures from osteoporosis can be painful and disfiguring. there is no cure for the disease. osteoporosis is most common in older people but can also occur in young and middle-aged adults. optimizing peak bone mass and developing lifelong healthy bone behaviors during youth are important ways to help prevent or minimize osteoporosis risk as an adult. factors affecting peak bone mass peak bone mass is influenced by a variety of factors: some that you can't change such as gender and race and some that you can like nutrition and physical activity. gender: bone mass or density is generally higher in men than in women. before puberty boys and girls develop bone mass at similar rates. after puberty however boys tend to acquire greater bone mass than girls. race: for reasons still not well understood african-american girls tend to achieve higher peak bone mass than caucasian girls and african-american women are at lower risk for osteoporosis later in life. more research is needed to understand the differences in bone density between the various racial and ethnic groups. however because all women regardless of race are at significant risk for osteoporosis girls of all races need to build as much bone as possible to protect them against this disease. hormonal factors: sex hormones including estrogen and testosterone are essential for the development of bone mass. girls who start to menstruate at an early age typically have greater bone density. those who frequently miss their menstrual periods sometimes have lower bone density. nutritional status: calcium is an essential nutrient for bone health. in fact calcium deficiencies in young people can account for a 5% to 10% lower peak bone mass and may increase the risk for bone fracture in later life. a well-balanced diet including adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals such as magnesium zinc and vitamin d is also important for bone health. physical activity: physical activity is important for building healthy bones and provides benefits that are most pronounced in the areas of the skeleton that bear the most weight. these areas include the hips during walking and running and the arms during gymnastics and weight lifting.
what is osteoporosis and how does it affect children?