Preventing osteoporosis can be cheaper: Expert
Preventing osteoporosis can be cheaper: Expert
YOGYAKARTA (JP): A health expert says women can prevent
osteoporosis in ways cheaper than consuming the widely advertised
calcium-rich milk products.
Ahmad Husain Asdie, a professor at the Gadjah Mada
University's School of Medicine, was commenting on television
commercials of milk products claiming to have the highest calcium
content to prevent osteoporosis. These products are relatively
more expensive than regular products.
"Is consuming additional calcium from such milk products
necessary? I can say it is. But there are actually many other
ways of doing it (preventing osteoporosis) which are much
cheaper," he said recently.
The water that people drink everyday, for example, contains
enough calcium, he said. "Water is the generic form of calcium
while those advertised calcium-rich milk products are the branded
ones. You can choose either one."
He said that osteoporosis -- the loss of bony matrix that
causes brittle bones, due to injury, infection or old age -- was
a natural condition that could happen to anyone, especially those
over 60 years old.
"Human bones are not static. They are always regenerating and
being damaged at the same time," said Asdie, who is also head
internist at the state-run Sardjito Hospital here.
The damaging agent of the bones is called the osteoclast while
the constructing agent is called the osteoblast. Calcium is
needed for bones formation.
Asdie said that normally, the two agents have a balanced
composition, and as such construction and damage take place in a
parallel manner.
"A recent study in Surabaya found that between the ages of 20
and 60 years, the two agents that form and damage human bones are
in a balanced composition," Asdie said.
When a person is over 60 years old, his or her osteoblast
decreases while his or her osteoclast improves.
As a result, the number of damaging agents swells all the more
while the number of constructing agents decreases.
What happens next, according to Asdie, is the so-called
compression fracture -- a condition where a person's bones become
smaller in size.
"When the compression fractures happen to the spine, it's the
front part of the bone that shrinks much quicker than the back
part. This explains why sufferers of osteoporosis are
hunchbacked," Asdie said.
In some cases, osteoporosis can also cause tetra paresis or
para paresis. Tetra paresis is a paralysis of both arms and both
legs at the same time, while para paresis is that of the two legs
only.
Severe osteoporosis may affect the legs and cripple the
victims, he said.
"Osteoporosis is not a deadly disease. But it could be very
disturbing especially if it comes earlier than it normally does,"
Asdie said, suggesting that women, among other things, exercise
to help prevent osteoporosis. (swa)