Osteoporosis: Are you at Risk?

Jan 11 , 2023

Emmanuel Lugo

Osteoporosis: Are you at Risk?

Osteoporosis is the most common age-related bone disease worldwide. In Singapore, hospital admissions for hip fractures have risen to 2,729 cases in 2020 from 1,487 in 2017, due to the ageing population here with a higher proportion of elderly people. This number is expected to reach 9,000 by 2050, thus osteoporosis is fast becoming a major health concern here.

  What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a 'silent' disease, as there are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages. It is also known as a bone disorder that weakens your bone density and strength, resulting in brittle bones that are prone to a higher risk of fractures. Without bone strength, bones can break easily, even from just a slight fall or even a sneeze. Seniors above the age of 50, particularly women, are at higher risk of suffering from osteoporosis. The common fractures are sites are in the spine, hip, pelvis, and wrist.

  However, osteoporosis does not only occur in middle-aged and elderly people. The bone mass contained in human bones increases with age from birth, and usually reaches a peak at the age of 30, and people tend to gradually lose bone mass starting from around the age of 35. With the changes in the lifestyle of young people these days, such as habitual staying up late, sharp reduction in physical activity and other factors. These can cause young people to gradually become a high-risk group for osteoporosis. In this article, we are talking about the 5 main reasons why young people are prone to osteoporosis.

 

  1. Obesity or excessive weight loss

In general, obese people with high visceral fat and low bone strength are at increased risk of developing osteoporosis. Also, nowadays young women are dissatisfied with their figure and weight. Statistics show that 7% of women who lose weight will develop symptoms of osteoporosis within 5 years. The reason for this is desperately losing weight is easy to cause protein deficiency, which can lead to insufficient bone matrix protein synthesis and reduces new bone formation. The lack of fat caused by weight loss will also indirectly cause the lack of estrogen, making bones weak. 

 2. Unhealthy diet

Many young people eat unhealthy and instant food during lunch and dinner due to their busy work schedule or to save time. Irregular and unbalanced diets can lead to insufficient calcium intake. At the same time, most young people have heavy-flavored eating habits. Often high-salt diets can also lead to excessive sodium intake and increase the rate of calcium loss.

In addition, young people like to drink carbonated drinks, and the main component of carbonated drinks is phosphoric acid. High intake of phosphoric acid can affect the absorption of calcium and reduce bone density. Too much coffee intake may also lead to osteoporosis in the long term, because the caffeine in coffee will combine with the free calcium in our body, excreted through urine and increase the loss of calcium.

 3. Long-term use of hormonal drugs

For example, glucocorticoids, which are often used to treat autoimmune diseases and severe acute infections, have the most significant side effect of causing osteoporosis. In some severe cases, it can cause femoral head necrosis, because glucocorticoids will promote the excretion of bone-related nutrients including calcium, potassium, and phosphorus in the body. In the case of long-term high-dose use, it will lead to the loss of these substances. 

 4. Prolonged sitting and lack of exercise

Bone density can be increased through proper physical activity. Generally, a person's bone density will reach the highest at the age of 35, but through exercise, the building capacity of bone cells can be increased, thereby further improving bone density. However, today's young people mostly work in front of computers in the office and rarely engage in sports after getting off work. Additionally, they are less exposed to sunlight and cannot absorb enough vitamin D to promote calcium increases. As a result, the hardness of the bones is reduced. 

 5. Smoking and drinking

The nicotine in cigarettes will affect the permeability of the blood vessel wall, leading to arteriosclerosis, which is harmful to the exchange of substances inside and outside the blood vessels, reducing the effective utilization of protein, calcium and phosphorus, and other toxic substances also tend to increase the acidity of the blood, promoting dissolution of bones. In addition, long-term smoking is very harmful to the immune function of the human body. Low immune function can easily lead to obstacles in the formation of bone and increase the destruction of bone. Over time, osteoporosis is prone to occur.

 Excessive drinking can also cause osteoporosis. Clinical studies have found that when our body metabolizes alcohol, it inhibits bone synthesis at the same time, but how the specific inhibition mechanism is involved is still unclear. 

 You may like to consider below supplements to improve your joint and bone health:

LABO Nutrition Bioactive Silica

Silica is a multifunctional trace element in the body, required for the production of structural materials in the body which includes skeleton, connective tissues, blood vessel wall, etc. Silica helps to stimulate bone collagen synthesis and stabilization, which is crucial for increasing bone mineral density, flexibility and strength. It can also activate osteoblast (bone cells) to generate new cells for bone mineralization and suppress bone resorbing osteoclast (bone cells that breaks down old cells).

Bioactive Silica is a rich source of highly absorbable silica. Each serving provides 91.5mg silica and is fortified with vitamin K2 (MK-7), vitamin D3 and MCT oil. The synergistic effects of multiple potent ingredients in this unprecedented formula help support bone density and strength. Also beneficial for joints, muscles, blood vessels, digestive tract and brain, it can help keep skin supple and strengthen your hair and nails.

  

LABO Nutrition FlexC PRO EX (2022 Enhanced Formula)

FlexC PRO EX is a multi-functional formula that combines the prowess of 4 highly researched ingredients - Peptan® Type I, II & III Collagen Peptides, Silica-Rx99, Curcumin C3 Reduct® Tetrahydrocurcuminoids and OVOMET® Eggshell Membrane, to supports healthy joints and connective tissues, strong bones, healthy muscle mass, youthful skin and healthy hair and nails.

With multiple potent ingredients in one formula, it is 2.4x more effective than glucosamine and chondroitin, 1.9x more effective than undenatured collagen type II, and 250x more potent than regular curcumin. It can help relieve joint discomfort in as little as 5 days, increase cartilage by 25%, improve joint lubrication by 158%, increase skin hydration by 91, decrease the volume of wrinkles by 40%, and increase hair strength by 13%. Other than that, FlexC PRO EX protects muscles and joints from exercise-induced injury, during and after exercise. It can also reduce muscle soreness and supports faster recovery 2 hours post-exercise.