Osteoporosis Risk Factors Affecting The Human Body

Osteoporosis is a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of tissue. All bones in your body can be affected by this disease but there are a few bones that break more easy. The bones of the spine, hip, and wrist are most likely to break. Hip fractures can be especially dangerous in elderly people because of how long it takes to heal and on top of that, they can not move while they are in the healing process which can lead to blood clots.

Osteoporosis occurs when there is an imbalance in new bone formation and old bone resorption. This means that sometimes the body might fail to form enough new bone or too much old bone is being reabsorbed. There are two essential minerals for bone formation and those are calcium and phosphate. To keep the heart and brain functioning correctly, you have to have calcium and the body reabsorbs calcium that is stored in the bones to maintain blood calcium levels. If the body does not absorb enough calcium, bone production and bone tissue may suffer. If all that happens, the bones may become weaker, resulting in brittle and fragile bones that can break easily. …show more content…
Some of these risk factors you cannot control and are unchangeable such as your sex, age, race, family history, and body frame size. You are more likely to get osteoporosis if you are a woman and if you are older. Your hormone levels are also a great risk factor. Lowered hormone levels tend to weaken the bones. Some dietary factors can cause osteoporosis if you have low calcium intake and/or eating disorders. Lifestyle choices play a big role in risk factors also. If you have some bad habits like a sedentary lifestyle or a drinking problem or use tobacco a lot, there is a chance you will get osteoporosis when you get older.