Definition of osteoporosis
Osteoporosis is a condition where the bones become porous. This means that their quality and density are very much reduced and it will increase the risk of them becoming fractured. It is something which is difficult to detect until breakages occur which will raise awareness that there may be a problem. Then a bone density scan may be ordered. It is natural for bone density to reduce with age, with them being the most dense when we are in our twenties. Bones will start to remodel where some parts will be dissolved and other parts will be formed. However, in the cases of osteoporosis it is thought that the bone loss is greater than the new growth which is why they become porous. This leads them to be brittle and more likely to fracture.
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This is a serious condition that is felt to effect 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men. It is something that is treatable but it is much better to try to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Osteoporosis (atrophy of the bones) is a very complicated development in which calcium, in most cases, plays only a very minor part. On the contrary the softening of the bones, osteomalacia, is a disease whereby, for various reasons, the deposit of calcium, vitamin B and certain phosphates in the bones is impossible, or hardly possible.
Many people, including many physicians and even the Osteoporosis Society, do not seem to know the difference between these two diseases. They still believe that it is possible to prevent and treat osteoporosis mainly by drinking milk and taking calcium tablets. However, osteoporosis is caused mainly by wrong eating habits. In that case there is often a lack of many vitamins and other vital substances, such as folic acid and vitamins C, B6, D and K (for bone growth), as well as magnesium, manganese, boron, zinc and silicon, all of which are important for the maintenance of strong and healthy bones. A lack of exercise and subsequent degeneration of the muscles, partly due to the fact that many elderly people are no longer used to lifting heavy loads, also contributes significantly to the disease. A lack of certain hormones, especially progesterone, not oestrogen, can play an important role in the development of osteoporosis, according to the newest research.
Therefore a sweeping statement such as suggesting that drinking milk can help to prevent osteoporosis is rather too broad. It would more accurate to say that drinking milk could help in some cases, as it will very much depend on individual circumstances and whether that person has a lack of other nutrients as well. There could also be hormonal reasons as well, which could be due to many factors, some of which are unknown. This means that no changes may help. Exercise is an interesting case, as it has been said that the exercise needs to be done at a younger age to help build up the bone strength and if this is the case, it is too late to use it as prevention if you are already fairly old.
In the case of osteomalacia, an adequate calcium supply is extremely important. However, please note that drinking milk only helps when it is biologically controlled raw milk. Pasteurising milk or treating it even more intensively always results in a big surplus of acid, and too much acid harms bone development (bone growth). In the human body, calcium is utilised to assimilate all acids and render them inoffensive. When people often drink pasteurised or otherwise treated milk, there is so much acid in their bodies that enormous amounts of the right kind of calcium are needed in order to limit the possible damage. When milk is heated it curdles and the calcium from this milk becomes, in a qualitative sense, completely useless to us.
Author Bio
Anne Stockway works as an intern on St. Claire Medical Center. Earning a medical experience to be a licensed Medical Practitioner. Her inspiration in the field of Medicine is one of her professor Dr. Rachna Mehra.
