Boning Up The most important influences on fracture healing are nutrition and overall health, including bone health, before
the injury, says orthopedist Martin Yahiro, M.D., a consultant to FDA. "That's why it's so important all your life to do weight-bearing exercise such as walking and get enough calcium and vitamin D, so you lay down as much bone as possible during growth and keep as much as you can later on." The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for calcium is 1,200 milligrams a
day for people ages 11 to 24 and for pregnant or breast-feeding women. For men and women older than 25 who no longer have to meet the greater demands of growth, the calcium RDA is 800 milligrams a day. In general, genes decide bone shape and size. But mechanical stress by muscle, body weight, and physical activity influence bone shape and
density--and health--throughout life. Simply put, loaded (stressed) bone strengthens, and unloaded bone weakens. As examples, astronauts' bones weaken in outer space with no gravity pull on them, and the shaft of the humerus (long upper arm bone) in a professional tennis player's dominant arm gets denser and thicker from the extra load. The body increases its bone mass until, usually, the mid-30s, after which a gradual loss begins. Age-related bone loss can lead to osteoporosis, a condition of thin, weakened bone that fractures easily. The condition affects many postmenopausal women,
because bone loss increases with menopause due to lower estrogen levels. In announcing its recent approval of Fosamax and Miacalcin Nasal Spray for osteoporosis, FDA advised that patients also exercise and get adequate calcium and vitamin D. Drugs approved by FDA to prevent or treat osteoporosis are:
estrogen--Premarin, Ogen, and Estrace tablets; Estraderm patch,
estrogen packaged with progestin hormone tablets--Prempro; Premphase,
alendronate--Fosamax, calcitonin--Miacalcin Nasal Spray, Calcimar Injection, Miacalcin Injection, and Cibacalcin for injection. |
