1. Effects of heredity, age, weight, puberty, activity, and calcium intake on bone mineral density in children
- Author
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Lonzer, M. Deborah, Imrie, Ruth, Rogers, Douglas, Worley, Deborah, Licata, Angelo, and Secic, Michelle
- Subjects
Bones -- Density ,Osteoporosis -- Genetic aspects ,Minerals in the body -- Measurement ,Health - Abstract
Children of parents with low bone mineral density (BMD) may have an increased risk of low BMD and of osteoporosis. Researchers studied 28 children from 16 families to analyze children's and parents' BMD. BMD in children was associated with age, stage of puberty, weight, height, and body mass. Children's BMD was related to the father's bone density, premenopausal mother's bone density, and the average of the mother's and father's bone densities. Neither daily calcium intake nor children's activity level correlated with children's BMD. Genetic and environmental factors may determine a child's BMD. Osteoporosis may be prevented by not losing too much weight, avoiding cigarette smoking and caffeine, and adding loading forces on the bone, as in weight lifting. Most of an adult's bone mass is acquired by late adolescence.
- Published
- 1996