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Adult lifestyle predicts bone health
Last Updated: 2005-05-25 15:06:48 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Charnicia E. Huggins
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A person's lifestyle as an adult, including
their diet and exercise habits, and reproductive history, plays a more
integral role in bone health than does his or her birth weight or other
factors associated with early life, results of a UK study suggest.
Data collected from hundreds of middle-aged individuals revealed that
their adult lifestyle had more of an impact on their bone mineral
density than did factors related to their early life, such as birth
weight. Early lifestyle factors, on the other hand, appeared to
influence bone size.
Previous research suggested that a person's health during their middle
age years is strongly influenced by their fetal development. Researchers
have associated poor growth during this stage, as well as in infancy,
with less skeletal growth and bone mass and a greater risk of
osteoporosis and bone fracture.
"Previous studies have suggested a link between birth weight and bone
health," study author Dr. Mark S. Pearce of the University of Newcastle
upon Tyne told Reuters Health. "In our study, we confirmed the
association between smaller birth weight (adjusted for gestational age)
and bone size, but not for bone mineral density."
Instead, "the study suggests that adult factors are more important than
early life events in determining bone density in middle age," co-author
Roger M. Francis, of Freeman Hospital, in Newcastle upon Tyne, told
Reuters Health.
Among 389 adults who were followed from birth, larger birth weights
predicted greater bone sizes for men, even after their adult height and
weight was taken into consideration, researchers report in the Journal
of Epidemiology and Community Health.
"Smaller babies are likely to have smaller skeletal size as adults,"
Francis explained. "As small skeletal size is also a risk factor for
fracture, these individuals may be at increased risk of fracture in
later life."
Early life, including birth weight, and other factors related to
development as a fetus, infant or child, explained some of the variation
in bone mineral density among men. Yet among women, early life factors
accounted for much less of the variation in bone density. More
significant among women, study findings show, was their adult weight.
In fact, for both men and women, adult weight accounted for nearly 25
percent of the variation in hip bone mineral density, the report indicates.
Further, other adult lifestyle factors also contributed to bone health
among both sexes. For example, alcohol drinking was found to be
associated with men's bone size, and decreased intake of vitamin C was
linked to decreased hip bone mineral density in men. In women, more
pregnancies was associated with less dense bones in the hip area.
This study, Francis told Reuters Health, shows that "promotion of a
healthier adult lifestyle is the public health intervention most likely
to improve bone health in middle age." In light of the findings, Francis
advises that parents ensure that children get enough calcium and vitamin
D "to optimize skeletal growth." Adults, on the other hand, should be
aware that "lifestyle factors such as avoiding smoking and excess
alcohol consumption, (engaging in) regular physical activity and eating
a balanced diet rich in calcium should help to maintain bone health, but
are not guaranteed to prevent osteoporosis or fractures later in life."
SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, June 2005.
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