Osteoporosis Risk Factors

Lesson 10, #3. List and describe several common risk factors for developing osteoporosis. Describe the key behaviors of someone trying to limit their risk of developing osteoporosis.

Everywhere we turn these days we see celebrities that are on TV promoting various types of medication for one ailment or another. One of the commercials that plays quite often these days is with Sally Field telling women about medication to help prevent osteoporosis. While I don’t care for celebrities hawking medication on TV; I do appreciate that Sally Field, an actress that has been around for 50 years is at least bringing attention to a very serious condition.

There are several risk factors that can play the part of a person developing osteoporosis. One of these of course is gender. Women are most affected by osteoporosis but men with testosterone deficiencies are at risk as well. Women that are low on estrogen in their bodies are at higher risk. Heredity particularly on the maternal side is a risk factor; and if a person has had a bone fracture in their life is also at risk. Some of the most preventable risk factors for osteoporosis are alcohol abuse and cigarette smoking. Lack of calcium and vitamin D in your diet over your lifetime is another huge risk factor.
Not all hope is lost; there is time at almost any age to start fighting the onset of osteoporosis.
While calcium and vitamin D absorption diminishes after women go through menopause; it helps to get outside and make sure your diet is rich in calcium. That is why it is better to have a solid diet in calcium and vitamin D foods from an early age to maximize your bone bass so that it is stronger before the aging
process.

This is a very important issue to me as about 15 years ago my husband starting joking with me that I was shrinking. After a couple of years living with his jokes I actually measured my height and found he was not off base…I was slightly shorter. I started increasing my calcium intake by drinking more milk and eating plenty of yogurt and cheese. I also started taking a multivitamin that had magnesium as my doctor suggested to maximize calcium absorption.

Lesson 11, #3. Discuss why some athletes are likely to develop iron-deficiency anemia. Compare iron-deficiency anemia and sports anemia, explaining the similarities and differences between the two.

Athletes in training are treating their bodies as machines. They work hard to maximize their nutrition to make sure that their bodies are the most fit they can be. Sometimes conditions such as iron deficiency and sports anemia can interrupt their training and awaken them to conditions that they never thought were possible.

First we have to understand that these are two very different conditions even though they are somewhat similar. Iron-Deficiency Anemia happens when an athlete is not getting enough iron in their diet. It will impair an athlete’s physical performance because the red blood cells are not getting enough oxygen for energy. Sports anemia can have the same symptoms of Iron-Deficiency Anemia. These symptoms are loss of energy, nausea, dizziness and insomnia. Sports anemia however is a temporary condition that is due to endurance training. It happens because the strenuous activity is causing the older red blood cells to die off. The cleanup work of the red blood cells reduces the bloods iron count temporarily.

My son suffered a scare last year when he joined the cross country team at the U of A. He was feeling run down and could not figure out why. His diet was the same, and he felt as though he was eating a very healthy diet. His trainer recognized the symptoms and after seeing the team doctor he was diagnosed with sports related anemia.