Bones of the past, present and future

by Moses Moua, MBS 2018
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
Mentor: John Arnott, PhD

Should you worry about your current lifestyle and how it will impact your future life? Although this question is commonly asked about financial responsibility and investments for retirement, it also applies to how you take care of your bones.

Media and pop culture are very good at stressing the importance of diet and exercise for overall health, but often offer very little explanation as to how these impact bone health and prevent future bone-related injuries. This video will explain some of the science behind your bone health and how you can avoid future complications.

To begin with, your bones are living tissue. I know, it sounds odd. However, if you happen to have access to living bone, you will often find that it is somewhat soft and almost spongy with a lot of blood vessels running along the surface. Furthermore, when you take a look at a bone on the microscopic scale, you’ll find that there are cells living in the bone called osteocytes. Think of the bone as a tall building that continually needs remodeling to strengthen it. Cells, called osteoblasts (“osteo” meaning bone and “blast” meaning immature cell) are constantly adding new “cross beams” to the interior to prevent collapse from an earthquake. This process of adding new beams must be balanced, because adding too many beams could result in a building that is too stiff and will crack when pressure is applied. Cue in the osteoclast. This little guy breaks bone down to balance out the activity of the osteoblast. Thus, a balance of bone breakdown and buildup are constantly underway in the body.

How does one increase bone health you may ask? The answers lie in diet and physical activity. In terms of nutrition, there are a lot of factors that contribute to bone health, but the main ones are calcium and vitamin D. Different levels of calcium are needed based upon age and sex. Taking calcium supplements may be beneficial for those who do not have easy access to calcium-rich foods, but caution should be observed when taking dietary supplements. Research has shown that taking more calcium than the recommended daily dose has little to no effect on increasing bone health and, in fact, may negatively impact how the body regulates blood calcium levels. In addition, you should pay attention to the types of calcium you are receiving from dietary supplements, since some sources of calcium are almost not absorbable or contain toxins. The two main vehicles for calcium absorption are calcium carbonate, which has high levels of elemental calcium but moderate absorbability, and calcium citrate, which has moderate levels of elemental calcium but better absorbability.

The next element of consideration is vitamin D, which allows the body to absorb calcium. Without vitamin D, you can take as much calcium as you want, but most of it will simply be excreted. One consideration regarding vitamin D is the amount of sunlight exposure you receive in a normal day. Why you may ask? The answer is that for you to make the active form of vitamin D, ultraviolet exposure from the sun is necessary. Therefore, you may take vitamin D and calcium supplements, but if you have little sunlight exposure, you can expect to have lower calcium absorption and most likely weaker bones. Therefore, a combination of sun, vitamin D and absorbable calcium sources are the keys to having healthier and stronger bones to avoid future fractures and bone-related problems.
For more information, please, visit the website of Moses.