Sarah Little, M.S.Bone is a complex and active tissue. Most people think once you stop growing that the bone is no longer changing; but actually, bone is constantly remodeling itself – it is just in a balance between resorption and formation. In fact, bone is constantly adapting to the world around it. Many things affect bone, like exercise (or the lack thereof), diet, inflammatory diseases, and radiation. While most people never encounter radiation, individuals with cancer or astronauts e...

Corrine Metzger, M.S.An uncontained fire can quickly spread and wreak havoc on areas both near and far to the instigating source. Under the right conditions, one flame can set a whole forest on fire and soon spread beyond its confines. In a similar way, inflammation can start at a local region in the body, but the damaging effects can spread to distant sites. One example of far spread damage of inflammation is the bone loss concurrent with inflammatory bowel disease. Inflammatory bowel disease (...

Anita Mantri, B.S.Since the introduction of “the pill,” its use as a form of birth control and contraception has steadily increased in women of child-bearing age as seen in reports from the CDC. When the pill first came out in the 1970s, its use was very limited out of caution about the unknown effects of adding extra hormones to the body. Usually, the hormones estrogen and progesterone have distinct cycling patterns that prepare a woman’s body for pregnancy and lead to her per...

Evelyn Yuen, M.S.In the condition known as osteoporosis, bones become weak and susceptible to fractures. This vulnerability results from low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue. Although it primarily afflicts the elderly, it can develop at any age. Osteoporosis is a growing public health threat that affects 55 percent of people 50 years of age and older; approximately one in two women and one in four men over 50 years old will have an osteoporosis-related fracture in their rema...

Ramon Boudreaux, M.S.A common misconception is that the skeleton is a relatively fixed structure that undergoes few changes during adulthood. In actuality, bones are an extremely active tissue that continuously rebuild themselves throughout an individual’s lifetime (referred to as turnover). Bone cells are in constant communication with each other to remove areas of damaged bone (resorption) and replace them with newer, healthier bone (formation). In fact, the entire skeleton is completely...

Brandon Macias, Ph.DThe estimated lifetime risks of an osteoporotic fracture are about 50% in women and 22% in men. Fractures in the elderly lead to large, often irreversible loss of quality of life and are associated with an increased risk of death. Furthermore, annual direct-care costs attributable to osteoporotic fractures are estimated to cost up to $18 billion in the United States. Most research to date has shown that regular weight bearing exercise helps preserve bone mineral density in po...

Ramon Boudreaux, M.S.It is often joked that if exercise could be given as a pill it would be the most prescribed drug in the world.  While some benefits of exercise are well known (e.g., the prevention of heart disease, high blood pressure, and obesity), some remain esoteric. Osteoporosis, a condition in which bones lose density by an increase in porosity, is one such example.  Low density bones are at a much higher risk of fracture.  If one were to compare the architecture of a b...

Brandon Macias, Ph.DMost folks, especially those who do not suffer from bone debilitating diseases, might forget that their skeletons are “alive.”  Yes, the bone that protects your vital organs and works with your muscles to get you out of bed in the morning is constantly remodeling.  Bone cells called osteoblasts lay down new bone matrix, and bone cells called osteoclasts, “eat” or resorb bone tissue.  In a normal healthy human, this bone-forming activity ...

 Kaleigh Camp, M.S.The American College of Sports Medicine refers to the female athlete triad as the interrelationships among energy availability, menstrual function, and bone mineral density. The new Triad model has each component of the female athlete triad on a continuous spectrum. These spectrums range from a healthy state to clinical outcomes of disease, which including eating disorders, amenorrhea (absence of a menstrual period for 3 or more months), and osteoporosis. T...