Osteoporosis is the fracturing of bones under common everyday stress. Over 25 million people in the US, mostly women, have osteoporosis. From the day we are born we begin to grow, our bones are constantly growing. Most people obtain their peak bone mass around the age of 20, and at the age of 40 adults begin to lose bone mass. Osteoporosis is a silent disease; there are neither symptoms nor signal that the body will send out telling you that your bones are losing calcium. There are 2 types of o: type I is the loss of trabecular bone. This can cause a break by holding up ones own body weight. Women are more susceptible to this but taking estrogen after menopause can help. Type II occurs over years, the calcium is drained from the trabecular and cortical bone. This is the main cause of shrinking in height and a humped back. Once again women are two times more likely than men to get this.

Factors such as calcium in youth help protect your bones as you grow older. Because our bones are constantly growing and changing they can heal and may be affected by diet and exercise. Up until age 30 you store bone efficiently, and then your body begins to break down bone faster than it can be formed. Certain people are more likely to get osteoporosis; fractures after 50, lower bone mass, heredity, being female are some. There are others however that we ourselves can control; low lifetime calcium intake, vitamin D deficiency, certain medications, and inactive lifestyle, current smoking, and excess use of alcohol. The average adult needs at least 1000mg of calcium daily, while post menopausal women need up to 1500mg a day. Calcium is mostly found in milk, cheese, and yogurt. You can also get it in orange juice, cereal bars soy beverages, dark green vegetables, and fried beans. Calcium alone cannot prevent or cure osteoporosis, but it is an important part of prevention.