Extra Body Weight Decreases Bones
How do you know if you have excess visceral fat?
The problem is, you don't. While it's often referred to as "belly fat" because it can cause a "beer belly" or an apple-shaped body, you can have visceral fat even if you're thin. This is especially true if you are not exercising, as a sedentary lifestyle will promote the formation of visceral fat.
Your weight is far from the only influence on your bone health. Here are several helpful strategies and nutrients, as well as a list of items to avoid to optimize your bone health on a comprehensive level.
Helpful:
· Exercise
· Vitamin D
· High-quality animal – based omega-3 fats
· Eat plenty of vegetables
· Vitamin B12
· Vitamin K2
One of the best natural sources of vitamin K2 is derived from an ancient Japanese food called natto. Natto is made from fermented soybeans and significant amounts of vitamin K2 are produced during the fermentation process.
Fermented foods, such as natto and kefir (fermented raw milk), typically have the highest concentration of vitamin K found in the human diet, and can provide several milligrams of vitamin K2 daily. This level far exceeds the amount found in dark green vegetables.
For example, vitamin K2 concentration after the consumption of natto has been shown to be about 10 times higher than that of vitamin K1 after eating spinach.
Natto is such an amazing super food that I seek to regularly incorporate it into my diet.
Ideally, you too should strive to include more of these beneficial fermented foods in your diet, along with plenty of dark leafy greens.
The more salt you eat, the more calcium your body gets rid of, which means it’s not there to help your bones. Foods like breads, cheeses, chips, and cold cuts have some of the highest counts.
You don’t have to cut salt out entirely, but aim for less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day.
Two wheeler or four-wheelers for your bones? Not so much. Because it’s not a weight-bearing activity, bike or car riding does not increase your bone density, unlike walks, runs, and hikes.
If you’re an avid cyclist, you’ll want to add some time in the weight room to your routine and mix it up with activities like tennis, hiking, dancing, and swimming (the water’s resistance helps your bones).
When you’re out with friends, one more round might sound like fun. But to keep bone loss in check, you should limit the amount of alcohol you drink. No more than one drink a day for women and two for men is recommended. Alcohol can interfere with how your body absorbs calcium.
Too many cola-flavored sodas could harm your bones. While more research is needed, some studies have linked bone loss with both the caffeine and the phosphorous in these beverages. Other experts have suggested that the damage comes when you choose to have a soda instead of milk or other drinks that contain calcium. Too many cups of coffee or tea can also rob your bones of calcium.
Smokers have a greater chance of breaks and take longer to heal. But if you quit, you can lower these risks and improve your bone health, though it might take several years.
Bredella and colleagues looked at 50 premenopausal women and examined their fat using computerized tomography (CT), which can distinguish between compartments of fat. Bredella said the human body has two categories of fat: superficial fat, which lies under the skin, and visceral fat, which surrounds organs. The first type of fat has been shown to have benefits against diabetes and heart disease when distributed around the hips.
It's the second kind of fat, the deep belly fat, that is bad for bones, she said. The study found that this fat was associated with lower bone mineral density, a measure of bone strength.
Most other studies on fat and osteoporosis have looked at weight or body mass index (BMI), which do not reflect this distribution of fat, she said.
And there's no way to know where the fat goes when you gain weight, as it's largely determined by genetics, she said.
The researchers also used a new technique to look at bone marrow fat, or fat within bones, which also appears to make the bones weaker. Women with deep tummy fat also had more fat within their bones, Bredella said.
On the other hand, women with anorexia have also been known to be at increased risk of osteoporosis. The bottom line is that you should strive for a normal weight, because the extremes of too much or too little fat are both bad for bones.
The research is being presented for the first time at the conference, and has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed journal. Further work should be done to confirm the results.
Disclaimer: The information on this POST is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional advice. The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. All content, including text, graphics, images and information, contained on or available through this article is for general information purposes / educational purposes only, and to ensue discussion or debate.
Thank you … A low body weight, a BMI of 18.5 or less, means a greater chance of fracture and bone loss. If you’re small-boned, do weight-bearing exercises and ask your doctor if you need more calcium in your diet. If you’re not sure why you’re underweight, ask your doctor about that, too. She can check to see if an eating disorder or another medical
When you regularly inhale cigarette smoke, or second hand smoke your body can’t form new healthy bone tissue as easily. The longer you smoke, the worse it gets.
Smokers have a greater chance of breaks and take longer to heal.
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Some medications, especially if you have to take them for a long time, can have a negative impact on your bones. Some anti-seizure drugs and glucocorticoids, like prednisone and cortisone, can cause bone loss.
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Also with every pound of fat, our skeletal system has this extra strain on it. Therefore, I would think that since calcium is also in bone marrow, it would be somewhat depleted giving our bones extra strength they need to support. Calcium is not only for strengthening bones and teeth, it adds to help build other tissues in our body, as well, like our muscles.
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As you get older, though, falls get more dangerous, especially if you have weak bones.
A fracture or broken bone can take a long time to heal. In older adults, it can often be the start of a decline that’s hard to come back from. Walk easier at home with safety features like grab bars and non-slip mats. Clear the clutter from your path, indoors and out, to avoid a misstep.
part 2………will follow ….it’s next !