Causes of osteoporosis

Nowadays, there are a lot of people all over the world who suffer from osteoporosis. It is considered to be a pretty common disease. Even though lots of people have heard of it, there are not that many people who know the actual causes of it.

What is osteoporosis?

A person who suffers from this disease suffers from faulty mineralization of the bones. Due to this bad mineralization the bones become porous within and there is a lot of embedded hollow spaces in them. Due to this fact, the bones become a lot more brittle than they should be and because of that they fracture more often.

Importance of minerals

In order for them to form properly, bones require calcium and phosphates. These two minerals are responsible for keeping the bone alive. In a person where mineralization is not possible, he or she will suffer from osteoporosis. A person who suffers from osteoporosis will experience bone fractures a lot more often and in situations where bones would not normally break. This occurs due to all the hollow spaces within the bones. In most cases of osteoporosis, it is the bone femur, the spine or the wrist bones that are affected.

The causes of osteoporosis

Experts have categorized all the causes of osteoporosis into three main categories. Loss of bone mass is the first category. When people pass the age of thirty, bone mass is lost rapidly. Some people experience bone mass lost a lot faster than the development of the bones and this is usually the case with women who experience menopause. This happens due to the lost of estrogen which is highly important for the development of bones in women. Due to this the bones become malformed and that is when osteoporosis occurs.

Faulty mineralization of bone during younger years is the second category. There are lots of conditions that may lead to faulty formation of bones in early adolescence and childhood. It usually occurs when a person does not intake enough calcium and phosphates. A lack of vitamin D can also be influential as well.

Disease and age as causes of osteoporosis

The third category is bone loss due to disease. Various medical conditions are known to cause osteoporosis. Some of the most common are anorexia nervosa and bulimia because they directly deprive the body of essential minerals.

Age is another cause of osteoporosis because bone mass density decreases as people become older.

Risks of osteoporosis

People need to avoid certain risk factors that increase the chance of development of osteoporosis like smoking, excessive alcohol and soft drinks consumption and obesity. On the other hand, exercise is highly important.