5 ways to boost bone strength early

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The best prevention for bone-thinning osteoporosis begins early — during the first two decades of life, when you can most influence your peak bone mass by getting enough calcium and vitamin D and doing bone-strengthening exercise. If you are over age 20, there's no need to be discouraged. It's never too late to adopt bone-preserving habits.

Get your copy of Osteoporosis: A guide to prevention and treatment

Each year, osteoporosis contributes to more than 2 million bone fractures in the United States. This Special Health Report, Osteoporosis: A guide to prevention and treatment, can help you keep your bones strong and healthy, and avoid fractures. It describes how you can prevent and treat osteoporosis through diet, exercise, and medications. You'll also find advice on choosing a calcium supplement, tips on fall-proofing your home, and help with putting together a personalized plan to preserve or boost your bone strength.

If you are a man younger than 65 or a premenopausal woman, these five strategies can help you shore up bone strength as a hedge against developing osteoporosis.

Monitor your diet. Get enough calcium and vitamin D, ideally through the foods you eat. Although dairy products may be the richest sources of calcium, a growing number of foods, such as orange juice, are calcium-fortified. Fruits, vegetables, and grains provide other minerals crucial to bone health, such as magnesium and phosphorus.
Maintain a reasonable weight. This is particularly important for women. Menstrual periods often stop in women who are underweight — due to a poor diet or excessive exercise — and that usually means that estrogen levels are too low to support bone growth.
Don't smoke and limit alcohol intake. Smoking and too much alcohol both decrease bone mass.
Make sure your workouts include weight-bearing exercises. Regular weight-bearing exercise like walking, dancing, or step aerobics can protect your bones. Also include strength training as part of your exercise routine.
Talk with your doctor about your risk factors. Certain medical conditions (like celiac disease) and some medications (steroids and others) can increase the chances that you will develop osteoporosis. It's important to talk with your doctor to develop a prevention strategy that accounts for these factors.

For more on diagnosing and treating osteoporosis and developing an effective plan for your bones buy, Osteoporosis: A guide to prevention and treatment.

What's your t-score? Bone density scans for osteoporosis

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Several technologies can assess bone density, but the most common is known as dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). For this procedure, a machine sends x-rays through bones in order to calculate bone density. The process is quick, taking only five minutes. And it's simple: you lie on a table while a scanner passes over your body. While this technology can measure bone density at any spot in the body, it is usually used to measure it at the lumbar spine (in the lower back), hip (a specific site in the hip near the hip joint), and femoral neck (the top of the thighbone, or femur). DEXA accomplishes this with only one-tenth of the radiation exposure of a standard chest x-ray and is considered the gold standard for osteoporosis screening—though ultrasound, which uses sound waves to measure bone mineral density at the heel, shin, or finger, is also used at health fairs and in some medical offices.

The DEXA scan or ultrasound will give you a number called a T-score, which represents how close you are to average peak bone density. The World Health Organization has established the following classification system for bone density:

If your T-score is –1 or greater: your bone density is considered normal.
If your T-score is between –1 and –2.5: you have low bone density, known as osteopenia, but not osteoporosis.
If your T-score is –2.5 or less: you have osteoporosis, even if you haven't yet broken a bone.

For more information on your bone health, buy Osteoporosis: A guide to prevention and treatment, a Special Health Report from Harvard Medical School.

Osteoporosis: A guide to prevention and treatment

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