Bone health is something most of us do not worry about on a daily basis. Poor bone health is silent and asymptomatic. Maybe your mother or grandmother had it, but that’s usually the limits that it crosses your mind. Or worse, maybe you’ve been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia (“pre” osteoporosis). Your doctor told you to drink your milk and take calcium. If you were lucky, he didn’t prescribe a bisphosphanate like Fosamax for osteopenia, because this is a completely inappropriate use of this class of drugs.
But bone health is a systemic problem (or solution). This means that the healthier we are, the healthier our bones will be. It is NOT about calcium, and most studies find little impact on calcium supplementation and bone health above what we get in our diet. It’s certainly not about drinking milk (countries with the highest intake of dairy have the highest incidence of osteoporosis).
This particular article is not the only studies discussing the relationship between bone health, body composition and our risk for diabetes. Hate to shatter the orthopedic docs sheltered view of bone, but they are going to have to learn more about helping patients maintain ideal body composition. The hormones that regulate body composition (and subsequent risk for diabetes) leptin and adiponectin and the bone hormone osteocalcin are all mixed up in affecting levels of one another.
The bottom line is that bone health is more far reaching than many realize, and needs to begin with an overall healthy lifestyle. No big shocker there, though, huh? It also means that, if you’re doctor’s view on how to help your bones is to drink more milk and take calcium, maybe you should find a doctor who stays current with the medical literature.