Osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a disease in which bones become fragile and more likely to break. If not prevented or if left untreated, osteoporosis can progress painlessly until a bone breaks. Osteoporosis is a major public heath threat for more than 28 million Americans, 80 percent of which are women. In the U.S. today, 10 million individuals already have the disease and 18 million others have low bone mass placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. Twenty years ago osteoporosis was a word used mainly by researchers and physicians. Over the past few years, there has been an explosion of information about this condition that can cause severe pain and crippling. No cure is known yet, but ways to lessen your potential for osteoporosis have been identified. Today, one in three Americans are 50 or older. Yet, if present day trends of unhealthy eating and lack of exercise continues, osteoporosis threatens to be one of the biggest public health dangers of the modern times.
Osteoporosis, literally meaning porous bone, is a disease of the bones in which the amount of calcium present slowly decreases to the point where the bones become extremely brittle and subject to fractures. The bones serve two functions. Providing structural support for organs and muscles and also serving as a depository for the body=s calcium and other minerals. The bone holds 99 percent of the body=s calcium. The other 1 percent of remaining calcium is free to circulate in the blood and is essential for crucial functions in the body such as blood clotting, muscle, contractions and nerve functions. Bone tissue is constantly being broken down and reformed to help the body cope with everyday stress and for maintaining a properly functioning body. The breakdown of the bone is called resorption and is performed by cells known as osteoclasts this is done to allow calcium to be released into the body. Then, cells produced by the bone called osteoblasts help rebuild the bone. A mix of hormones...
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