Are your bones hard enough ?

In his book Frameworks the orthopedic surgeon Dr. Nicholas A. DiNubile makes the intriguing statement that when he's operating on a young female athlete he often can drill into leg bone just with hand pressure because the bones are so soft. The doctor compares that to most men of similar age where he needs to use power tools plus all his strength.

DiNubile says he often orders DEXA bone density scans even for fit young female athletes with stress fractures.

Dr. Nic's risk factors for osteoporosis:

1. History of fractures as an adult
2. Family history of fractures or osteoporosis
3. cigarette smoking
4. slight build or underweight
5. white or Asian
6. Eating disorder
7. Early menopause or hysterectomy
8. Sedentary lifestyle
9. Alcohol abuse
10. Low-calcium diet
11. Vitamin D deficient - including inadequate sunlight exposure
12. High caffeine intake
13. Certain medical disorders e.g. thyroid dysfunction, or use of some medications e.g. prednisone, corticosteroids, dilantin.

Dr Nic also has a couple of other interesting thoughts:

• the body can only absorb 550 mg of calcium at one go - spread calcium intake across the day
• alcohol, caffeine and smoking can all reduce calcium being used by the body to keep bones strong.