High Calcium Intake May Actually Increase Risk of Hip Fractures

A newly published Swedish study of over 61,000 women who were followed for more than 19 years provides the strongest evidence to date that high calcium intake is not beneficial for preventing bone fractures. The exceptions are women with very low amounts of calcium and vitamin D in their diet. Women in the top 25 percent of calcium intake showed no reduced risk of fractures or osteoporosis. Instead, they actually showed a 19 percent increase in hip fractures. The lowest fracture risk was found in women with total calcium intake of about 800 mg per day. 

Women who breast-feed have a lower risk of hip fractures later in life.

There are many benefits of breast feeding both to the baby and to the mother.  Women who breast feed are less likely to develop osteoporosis and therefore less likely later in life to fracture bones. Because falls in later life often result in fractured hips, we can say, that one way to help prevent fractured hips when you are older is to breast feed when you are younger. Pretty neat!

PositiveTip: For expecting mothers, plan on breast feeding! There are big benefits to mom and baby.

Diet & lifestyle continue to be women's first line of defense again osteoporosis.

Lifestyle and diet continue to be the best line of defense against osteoporosis for women. The North American Menopause society has recommended that every woman should periodically review 7 key ways to reduce postmenopausal risk of bone loss:

1. Maintain a healthy weight
2. Eat a balanced, healthful diet
3. Obtain adequate calcium and Vitamin D intake
4. Do weight-bearing exercises daily, with strength-training at least 2x a week
5. Do not smoke
6. Limit alcohol consumption to minimum or none
7. Prevent falls

PositiveTip: Reviewing and implementing 7 key steps to prevent osteoporosis can help assure you a long, active and happy life.

Regular consumption of cola increases the risk of low bone-mineral density in women.

More than 2500 people in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study with an average age of 60 were given bone-mineral density measurements of the spine and and three different hip sites. In the women, cola drinks were associated with lower bone mineral density at all three hip sites. The principle investigator, Katherine Tucker said, "The more cola that women drank, the lower their bone mineral density was. However we did not see an association with bone mineral density loss for women who drank carbonated beverages that were not cola."

Check your risk of osteoporotic bone fractures without any laboratory measurements!

Estimate your risk of premature bone fractures without any lab tests? Hop on over to QFracture to see what your score is! British researchers developed this site after developing the risk prediction algorithm using data from 2.4 million men and women and validating it against another 1.3 million others. A long list of variables were used to develop the QFractureScore. You will need your height and weight in metric values, and if needed can convert these easily online.

PositiveTip: Smoking, alcohol use, obesity, corticosteroids, and some antidepressants lead to a higher risk of osteoporotic fractures.