Osteoporosis: Could probiotics protect bone health?
19 November, 2018
Osteoporosis predominantly affects older adults, but bone loss can start at as early as age 40. Recently, scientists have found that probiotics might be a safe and effective tool to help fight bone loss.
Bones do not just grow once and then stay the same for life.
Instead, bone is made up of living tissue that is constantly being broken and remodeled into new bone.
This process is more efficient when we are young. By around age 30, the body stops increasing bone mass, and once we reach our 40s and 50s, more bone might be being broken down than we are replacing.
Over time, this can result in osteoporosis. Bones gradually become thinner, which can lead to fractures — even from a simple fall.
Older women tend to have a higher risk of developing the disease, but it is not exclusive to women; it can affect men as well.
Other risk factors may include breaking a bone after the age of 50, experiencing early menopause, having a smaller body frame, smoking tobacco, and having a family history of osteoporosis.
Fractures can have severe consequences; for instance, during the first year after a hip fracture, mortality rates are 24–30 percent due to the risk of complications.
Osteoporosis becomes more of an issue the older we get, and women tend to lose bone mass quickly during menopause. Regardless, by the time that people are in their 70s, both men and women lose bone mass at around the same rate.
Medications are available that can help treat osteoporosis, but preventing or slowing the initial bone loss would be a vast improvement.