How to prevent osteoporosis – a loss of bone density – and why it is key to ageing well
- A third of women and a fifth of men over 50 will suffer a fracture because of osteoporosis – bones so porous they can easily break. Some will die within a year
- On World Osteoporosis Day, doctors suggest ways to keep your bones strong as you age, from having the right nutrition to exercise and other lifestyle choices
What do you see when you look in the mirror? The condition of your skin, the shape of your body, perhaps the tone of your muscles. What you can’t see is the scaffolding that holds it all upright: your skeleton.
Because we don’t see our bones we are often guilty of overlooking their health, especially since osteoporosis – a loss of bone density – is a painless condition until it results in a broken bone.
“Therefore, the condition may not be recognised until more serious hip fractures occur,” she says.
Safeguarding bone health is crucial, especially as we get older.
Our bones thin with age. This loss of bone density is described as osteopenia – from the Greek ostéon (bone) and penía (poverty) – or the more serious osteoporosis, from the Greek por (passage; also the root of the word porous).