Dr. George L. Dixon - "Talking Fitness"

Did you know that about every 5 to 7 years you get a whole new set of bones??? Sure, they are living parts of you and exchange all during your life. They react to chemicals, use and hormones. Mostly they respond to gravity, that is, weight-bearing.

The astronauts found that they lost huge quantities of calcium while they were weightless in space. The only thing their bodies could do with the calcium was to put it out in their urine; this makes kidney stones one of the more serious problems of long space missions.

What about you? You gain bone mass every year until about age 35, and then start to lose that banked bone. At menopause, and for the next six years, women lose lots of bone because estrogen levels are way down. Men lose bone also, but you have more volume and won't get into fragile bone problems till much later.

Exercise, vitamin D, calcium are the cornerstone of bone care. Exercise needs to be weight bearing, i.e. walking. Water exercise is grand for muscles, joints and even aerobic work. It is NOT weight bearing. An exercise bike provides about one-half weight bearing. A treadmill* is just like walking outside (except for the absence of sunlight!).

Vitamin D is acquired from 20 minutes of sunshine daily on arms and face! Why not get it walking? Supplements of 200-400 units daily in winter are sensible.

Calcium, dietary is best, in about 1200-1500 milligram amounts daily all through life. Usual American diets provide about 500-600. Supplemental calcium (carbonate) is important.

Estrogen is by far the most meaningful chemical (hormone) that you need. Not only for bone strength, but also for lowering heart attack. The newest chemical medicine, Fosamax, is reported to not only decrease bone loss, but actually increase bone volume!!

Even newer is Evista, estrogen-like but without breast and uterus effects. Ask your doctor about these.

More help is available in "Exercise a la Carte", here, at your bookstore or call 800-624-4952.