How to Boost Your Bone Health Beyond the Age of 50

Kyle J. Norton

Carrots may have a profound and positive effect of improving bone health, some scientists suggested.

Osteoporosis is a bone disease characterized by the inability of the body to produce bone to make up bone loss, leading the loss of bone density over a long period of time.

People with low bone density are susceptible to fracture, break from a fall due to bone weakening.

The exact causes of osteoporosis are unknown.  However, researchers do know that certain preventable risk factors such as smoking, low calcium intake, physical inactivity, excessive alcohol consumption and unpreventable risk factors such as aging, family history, genders, race, body frame size,... and sedentary works are associated to increase the onset of the disease.

Some researchers also suggested that loss of bone density due to age, medications used to treat breast cancer, arthritis, asthma and certain chronic diseases such as Crohn's disease and Addison's disease and hyperthyroidism, hypopituaritism and eating disorders are also considered as some major risk factors of osteoporosis.

According to the statistic provided by the National Osteoporosis Foundation, over 10 million Americans are affected by osteoporosis and 34 million more have low bone mass, called osteopenia.

Most common symptoms of osteoporosis include back pain, as a result of a fractured or collapsed vertebra, loss of height and a stooped posture.

Many patients with osteoporosis also experience symptoms of a bone fracture.

If you experience some of the symptoms of above, you may have osteoporosis.

Conventional medicine such as Bisphosphonates: Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva, Zoledronic Acid  Bisphosphonates may be effective on reduced risk of fracture, decelerated bone loss and ameliorate pain. However, they may induce some adverse effects, including impaired thinking, fainting, and feeling light-headed, rapid heart rate,.... and gastrointestinal discomforts.

If you are taking one of those medicines, please make sure you discuss the side effects with your doctor.

Carrot, a root vegetable with an orange color is a sub spice of Daucus carota, belongings to the family Apiaceae, native to Asian and Europe.


Nutrients
1. Carbohydrates
2. Sugars
3. Fibre
4. Fat
5. Protein
6. Vitamin A
7. Thiamine (VittaminB1)
8. Riboflavin (Vittamin B2)
9. Niacin (Vittamin B3)
10. Vitamin B6
11. Folate (Vittamin B9)
12. Vitamin C
13. Vitamin K
14. Calcium
15. Iron
16. Magnesium
17. Molybdenum
18. Phosphorus
19. Potassium
20. Sodium



In the reaffirm the antioxidant activity in protection of osteoporotic women, researchers at the University of Wisconsin (UW)-Madison launched an investigation of carotenoids in human serum effect of promotion of bone health among postmenopausal women.

In a total of 59 postmenopausal women participated, researchers found that
* Intake of carotenoids scores a significant effect of protecting the bone density, observed by the dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry and osteoporosis diagnosis was based upon T-scores.

* Serum lycopene and beta-cryptoxanthin measured by 0.03 and 0.006, respectively in participants were correlated to the total intake of fruits and vegetables.

* However, serum alpha-carotene concentration was strongly associated with carrot intake.

Researchers, after taking into account of other co and confounders suggested that carotenoids intake may have beneficial skeletal effects in women with osteoporosis.

Additionally, in vitro and in vivo studies suggest that carotenoids may have strong protective effect of inhibited bone resorption, according to researchers at the Jean Mayer USDA HNRCA at Tufts University in a differentiation of associations of total and individual carotenoid intake (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein + zeaxanthin) with incident hip fracture and nonvertebral osteoporotic fracture.

Furthermore, in a total of 370 men and 576 women (mean age, 75 +/- 5 yr) from the Framingham Osteoporosis Study completed a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) in 1988-1989 and followed for hip fracture until 2005 and nonvertebral fracture until 2003, researchers showed that

* Highest tertile of total carotenoid intake had a lower risk of hip fracture (p = 0.02).

* Higher lycopene intake had lower risk of hip fracture (p =0.01) and nonvertebral fracture (p = 0.02).

* However, total beta-carotene was associated with a weak protective trend for hip fracture alone and NO significant associations were observed with alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, or lutein + zeaxanthin.

These results suggested that only lycopene was found to have a clinical effect on protection of bone health in all aspects in compared to other bioactive compounds isolated from carrot.

And several members in carotenoids may play a protective role in bone health in older adults.

Moreover, in the reassessed the carotenoids bone protective effect in inhibited bone resorption and stimulate proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts, in 334 men and 540 women (mean +/- SD age: 75 +/- 5 y) in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study, researchers at the Tufts University showed that intake of lycopene may protect the mean of bone density in both genders
* Carotenoid and lycopene intake exerted a 4-y change in lumbar spine BMD for women, and

* Total carotenoids, beta-carotene, lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin with 4-y change in trochanter BMD in men.

DR. Sahni S, the lead scientists said, "Carotenoids showed protective associations against 4-y loss in trochanter BMD in men and in the lumbar spine in women" and " These results support a protective role of carotenoids for BMD in older men and women".

Taken together, carrot and its bioactive compound lycopene may be considered as functional foods in reduced risk of osteoporosis, including inhibited bone resorption and proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts,... in both older men and women.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrients, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blog, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Serum carotenoid concentrations in postmenopausal women from the United States with and without osteoporosis by Yang Z1, Zhang Z, Penniston KL, Binkley N, Tanumihardjo SA.(PubMed)
(2) Protective effect of total carotenoid and lycopene intake on the risk of hip fracture: a 17-year follow-up from the Framingham Osteoporosis Study by Sahni S1, Hannan MT, Blumberg J, Cupples LA, Kiel DP, Tucker KL.(PubMed)
(3) Inverse association of carotenoid intakes with 4-y change in bone mineral density in elderly men and women: the Framingham Osteoporosis Study by Sahni S1, Hannan MT, Blumberg J, Cupples LA, Kiel DP, Tucker KL.(PubMed)