World Osteoporosis Day | Is osteoporosis a "patent" of the elderly? Can calcium supplementation work? I'll tell you everything today

Expert in this article: Ao Rongguang, MD, associate chief physician of orthopedics at Shanghai Pudong Hospital, and head of the key subspecialty of osteoporotic fractures in Pudong New Area

If there are elderly people at home, people will generally pay special attention to them, for fear that they might get bumped or hurt.

Children run around all day long, fall down and get up to continue running, but many elderly people have "brittle" bones that cannot withstand the tossing and turning. This is often caused by osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis refers to a systemic disease characterized by decreased bone mass and damage to the microstructure of bone tissue, which leads to increased bone brittleness and susceptibility to fractures. It has a very high incidence rate.

According to literature, among people over 60 years old in my country, 49% of women suffer from osteoporosis, and 23% of men; among people over 50 years old, 20.7% of women suffer from osteoporosis, and 14.4% of men.

So what are the symptoms of osteoporosis? How to prevent it? How to treat it if you are infected?

Today is World Osteoporosis Day, let’s talk about osteoporosis.

What are the symptoms of osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis has no obvious symptoms in the early stages, so it is also called a "silent disease."

However, as the disease progresses, patients may experience pain in the lower back or back, or even "pain all over the body", which is more obvious at night and sometimes affects sleep. The pain generally subsides after daytime activities and may recur over a long period of time, sometimes mild and sometimes severe, often accompanied by symptoms such as fatigue and leg cramps. In severe cases, patients will become shorter in height and have a hunchback.

Osteoporotic fractures are prone to occur in the absence of trauma or in the presence of minor trauma. The most common is spinal fracture, and the most harmful is hip fracture. In addition, shoulder fracture, wrist fracture, pelvic fracture, etc. are also common osteoporotic fractures.

How does osteoporosis occur?

If bones are compared to a house, before the age of 30, the main activity is "building the house" (osteoblasts). Our "house" will become taller and taller, and reach the so-called "peak bone mass".

Between the ages of 30 and 40, the "house builders" (osteoblasts) and the "house demolition team" (osteoclasts) are evenly matched, and the height of the house remains stable.

After the age of 40, the "house demolition brigade" (osteoclasts) gradually gain the upper hand, but under the close protection of estrogen, the destruction of the house by the "house demolition brigade" can be inhibited, and building and demolishing houses are still in a relatively balanced state.

After menopause, women's estrogen levels will drop drastically, and the "house demolition team" loses its inhibitory effect and becomes unscrupulous, which makes osteoporosis more likely to occur.

How to prevent and treat osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is preventable and curable. To prevent it, we should take good care of our bones from an early age, such as eating a balanced diet, supplementing with adequate calcium and protein, getting more sun, and exercising regularly, which can increase the height of our "house" and increase our peak bone mass.

In addition, drinking large amounts of carbonated drinks, coffee and strong tea for a long time will also increase the risk of osteoporosis and should be avoided as much as possible.

Middle-aged and elderly people are at high risk of osteoporosis and should undergo regular bone density tests to understand their bone mass.

Early diagnosis and early standardized treatment can effectively increase bone mass and significantly reduce the occurrence of osteoporotic fractures. The treatment of osteoporosis mainly includes basic treatment measures and the use of anti-osteoporosis drugs. In layman's terms, it means "a combination of meat and vegetables, with vegetarian dishes every day and meat dishes depending on the specific situation."

"Meat dishes" refer to anti-osteoporosis drugs, mainly drugs that inhibit osteoclasts (limit the demolition team) and drugs that promote bone formation (help build houses). There are many types of "meat dishes", and they need to be reasonably selected and used under the guidance of professional doctors.

"Vegetarian dishes" mainly supplement calcium and vitamin D. For calcium supplementation, dietary supplements are important sources of calcium, such as milk, yogurt, dark green leafy vegetables, soy products and nuts. For people over 50 years old, the calcium from daily dietary supplements cannot meet the body's needs, so it is recommended to supplement calcium supplements on the basis of dietary supplements.

There are very few food sources of vitamin D. The most environmentally friendly way to supplement it is to bask in the sun. To properly supplement vitamin D in the sun, you need to do the following two things:

1. Exposing limbs, not using sunscreen, not using glass, and not using an umbrella;

2. Get high-quality sun exposure 2-3 times a week, 5-10 minutes each time, between 10:00 and 14:00.

For people who are deficient in vitamin D, in addition to proper sun exposure, they also need to supplement vitamin D under the guidance of a professional doctor.

Don't believe these rumors.

Rumor 1: All you need to treat osteoporosis is calcium supplementation

Rumor debunked: Calcium supplementation is only a basic treatment measure for osteoporosis. Calcium supplementation alone cannot cure osteoporosis.

Rumor 2: Drinking bone soup can prevent osteoporosis

Rumor debunked: The calcium content in bone soup is very low, and calcium ions do not dissolve in water, making them difficult to absorb, while the fat content is very high. Therefore, drinking bone soup cannot prevent osteoporosis.

Rumor 3: Long-term use of calcium tablets will cause kidney stones

Rumors: Although the main component of kidney stones is calcium, it is not caused by excessive calcium intake, but by excessive oxalic acid content in the body. Therefore, foods with high oxalic acid content, such as spinach, grass head, wild rice stem, etc., must be blanched before consumption.

Myth 4: Osteoporosis is a disease of the elderly and has nothing to do with young people

Rumor debunked: The age of onset of osteoporosis tends to be younger. If you have symptoms related to osteoporosis, you need to go to the hospital for further examination.

Myth 5: As people age, they will develop osteoporosis

Rumors debunked: Osteoporosis is preventable and treatable. In young and middle-aged people, try to increase the peak bone mass to delay or avoid the onset of osteoporosis. After the age of 50, check bone density once a year to understand your own bone mass. If osteoporosis occurs, follow the doctor's advice and follow the standardized treatment method of "combining meat and vegetables".

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