Category: Weight Loss Exercise

The main causes of osteoporosis are reduced production of the hormones estrogen (in women) and testosterone (in men) as we grow older.

It is most common in women after the menopause. However it can also appear in older men and in younger people, usually as a result of hormone deficiencies, sometimes due to calcium deficiency or certain medications.

What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition defined as low bone mineral density – in other words, weak bones. Weak bones are likely to break more easily and the classic case is a senior lady who frequently falls and breaks wrists, hips and other bones.

The risk of these fractures occurring is increased of course if the person easily loses their balance. This is associated with certain diseases but also happens much more often in elderly people. Poor eyesight also results in more frequent falls.

Broken wrists can make independent living difficult, especially as it is quite common to break both in the same fall. Fractures of major bones like the pelvis are more serious and often require surgery.

Anything which prevents the bones from getting enough calcium can contribute to the causes of osteoporosis.

This can either be because there is not enough calcium in the diet, or because something is preventing the absorption of calcium: for example, heavy smoking.

People are also at increased risk if they are underweight, bedridden or have been exposed to high levels of the metals lead or cadmium.

Osteoporosis can be both prevented and (to a certain extent) treated by two simple measures that will increase bone strength.

Exercise Often To Prevent Osteoporosis

Increasing -bearing exercise can prevent this condition and reduce its effects after it has started.

Weight-bearing exercise does not mean lifting weights, but exercise where the bones have to take the weight of the body. So for example, skipping, jumping, aerobics, walking, running.

Excessive exercise, for example in professional athletes and some anorexics, can have the opposite effect of weakening the bones.

But people who have maintained a good level of physical exercise throughout their lives are much less likely to develop this disease, and people who have been diagnosed can increase their resistance to fractures by gradually exercising more.

Increase Calcium To Prevent Osteoporosis

Calcium is present in the diet and is also easy to supplement. A supplementation level often recommended is 1200 mg calcium plus 800 IU Vitamin D.

However, some sources suggest that supplemented calcium may not be easy for the body to absorb. The same has been said of calcium from dairy products.

Research has yet to provide absolute proof of any of these claims but to prevent osteoporosis it seems wise to ensure that the body receives around 1500 mg of calcium per day from a combination of dairy foods, non-dairy foods and supplementation.

If you are already suffering from osteoporosis, taking other medication or have any condition where calcium supplementation is contraindicated, you should consult your doctor.

List of high calcium foods (source: US Dept of Agriculture Nutrient Database)

Dairy Sources of Calcium

• Sweetened condensed milk – 869 mg calcium per cup
• Ricotta cheese – 509 mg per cup
• Plain skim milk yogurt – 452 mg per 8 oz
• Skim milk – 300 mg per cup
• Milk, 3.25% fat – 290 mg per cup
• Plain whole milk yogurt – 275 mg per 8 oz
• Cheddar cheese – 204 mg per oz

Non-dairy sources of  Calcium

• Enriched self-rising cornmeal – 483 mg per cup
• Enriched self-rising white wheat flour – 423 mg per cup
• Frozen collards, cooked – 357 mg per cup
• Frozen rhubarb, cooked with sugar – 348 mg per cup
• Sardines canned with bone – 325 mg per 3 oz
• Frozen spinach, cooked – 277 mg per cup
• Green soybeans, cooked – 261 per cup
• Fresh spinach, cooked – 245 mg per cup
• Cornflakes – 237 mg per 1.33 cups
• Fresh collards, cooked – 226 mg per cup

Any woman who wishes to stay young, active and healthy after the menopause will benefit from understanding the causes of osteoporosis and taking preventive steps now.

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Interesting story that I read on Ars Technica just now about the precertification of software and personal health technology by the FDA. It looks like the FDA is interested in making sure that software and its underlying systems are good for people and accurate for giving people using the hardware on their wrists and in their pockets.

The FDA has partnered with some of the biggest names in health and technology to modernize consumer health devices and programs. The agency just announced the companies who will be the first to participate in its precertification pilot program under its Digital Health Innovation Action Plan. Apple, Fitbit, Samsung, and Johnson and Johnson are among the nine companies included in the program, meaning they will collaborate with the FDA to create guidelines for other companies to get FDA pre-certification based on their digital health programs.

The FDA is trying to make it easier for consumers to have access to approved health devices and programs so that each individual can take more responsibility for their own health. Consumers already use wearable devices and health apps to assess general health and specific medical conditions, even though most of these devices do not bear an FDA-approved stamp. The companies participating in this pilot program will help the FDA narrow down “key metrics and performance indicators for precertification” surrounding a company’s digital health software.

Why Would Pre-Certifying Apps Help You?

This is an interesting development because even on my own Samsung S8 I have an SPO2 (Blood oxygen)  and heart rate monitor. It would be nice to know that these were accurate from someone independent like the FDA, although from surfing various forums it seems as though the Oxygen monitor is fairly accurate as well as the heart rate sensor.

Personal health technology can take many forms and I am seeing it moving into our lives very quickly.

Apple in it’s last release of the Apple Watch was highlighting that they can see a time in the future that you could allow the health information that the watch gets to be sent to a doctor to help a diagnosis.

Of course the science fiction of this is a few years out but at least keeping track of heart rate all the time as well as steps would help now.

What Is The Future Of Personal Health Technology?

According to Scott Gottlieb from the FDA:

As we launch our Digital Health Innovation Action Plan, I am conscious of the fact that apps and app updates come to market every day. But the most powerful feature of this market may not be one revolutionary app but rather a combination of apps that provides consumers and providers with the information they need. This can help people better manage their chronic diseases, which could result in less trips to the doctor for checkups, or better awareness of illness, like prompts to a parent with a sick child on when they need to see a provider.

So it looks like the FDA is definitely seeing the future coming fast and I have to agree. Over the last few years with my phones, Fitbits, and seeing others with iPhones and Apple Watches, I can say that the health benefits of the devices that we carry all the time are very interesting and useful and they will be even more useful as new sensors and software come over the next few years

I have had a question that is interesting about the difference between different muscle fibers and tried to get a good answer. Here is the differences between fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers and the difference that they make to your workouts and fitness level.

One slightly confusing area of exercise is the idea that a muscle can do both push a lot of once or move many times. Look at the difference between doing a set of squats compared to running or the difference in the leg muscles of a bodybuilder compared to a triathlete.

All types of skeletal muscle are constructed from densely knit fibers. These muscle fibers can be looked at as Fast Twitch and Slow Twitch muscle fibers. Which kind are you looking for when you are doing s? Which ones do you want to have when you are running distance?

Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers (Type 1 Muscle fibers)

The slow muscles are more efficient at using oxygen to generate more fuel (known as ATP) for continuous, extended muscle contractions over a long time. They fire more slowly than fast twitch fibers and can go for a long time before they fatigue. Therefore, slow twitch fibers are great at helping athletes run marathons and bicycle for hours.

Slow Twitch Muscle Fibers Are:

• Smaller in diameter
• Red in color
• Depend on oxidative phosphorylation for their ATP supply
• Are highly vascularized (better blood supply)
• Have more mitochondria
• More myoglobin

Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers (Type 2 Muscle fibers)

Fast twitch fibers are responsible for the speed of muscular contraction, and a fast twitch response is the ability of a muscle to rapidly contract to a specific distance over a short period of time.

Muscle Fibers

Therefore, any training program that conditions your muscles to go from a state of complete relaxation to an immediate state of contraction is a speed training program.

Because fast twitch fibers use anaerobic metabolism to create fuel, they are much better at generating short bursts of strength or speed than slow muscles. However, they fatigue more quickly.

Fast twitch fibers generally produce the same amount of force per contraction as slow muscles, but they get their name because they are able to fire more rapidly. Having more fast twitch fibers can be an asset to a sprinter since she needs to quickly generate a lot of force.

Fast Twitch Muscle Fibers Are:

• Larger
• White
• Glycolysis is the source of ATP
• Less vascularized
• Less mitochondria
• Less myoglobin

Say you were to help someone lift a heavy couch up a flight of ten stairs. You would use your hands as grips and let your legs do all the work. On the first step your legs will start to recruit type IIa fibers. By the 2nd or 3rd step your nervous system does not recruit more motor units.

This being the case the first set of fibers rest and more type IIa fibers are recruited. Along with these, a number of type IIb fibers are called into play (to maintain fluent motion up the stairs).

As your journey continues more type IIa and type IIb fibers are recruited until by the last step they have all come into play. Your muscle fibers weren’t twitching at maximum speed until the end of the stairs when they neared failure.

Force and Types of Muscle Fibers Needed

The faster a muscle fiber twitches the greater the force is. At the beginning, the fibers weren’t forced to twitch at maximum frequency to overcome the weight, but at the end they had to produce as much force as possible to overcome the . This is how recruitment is designed to maintain a certain amount of force.

Fast-twitch fibers are activated by their neurons at a rate ten times faster than the rate of activation for slow-twitch fibers. The distribution of fast- versus slow-twitch fibers in the muscles is primarily an inherited characteristic, determined by the genetic coding of each person.

While it is common for a person to have muscles with a relatively even distribution of fast-and slow-twitch fibers, some persons inherit a tendency to a significantly greater number of one type of fiber over the other. These people tend to excel in the sports best suited to their muscular composition.

I have to thank a couple of sites for some of this info. Especially bodybuilding.com and Sports Medicine about.com as well Wiki Answers.