Images of osteoporosis are all around us … white-haired women walking down the street in the characteristic hunched-over pose… media coverage of its increasing frequency…advertisements trumpeting the need for calcium or some pharmaceutical as an antidote.

No bones about it – many women now consider osteoporosis one of the inevitable ravages of growing older.

But the truth is…Osteoporosis actually has its origins in our teen years. It’s really more a pediatric disease than a geriatric disease, which makes it one of the most inappropriately categorized conditions of all time. And it’s becoming more prevalent. Why? Research has shown that the American public’s love for soft drinks is having a deleterious long-term effect on their bones. It’s the phosphorus present in soft drinks that leaches out bone calcium and magnesium, and over time makes them increasingly brittle and porous. Cola drinking habits developed in teenage years inevitably continue into adulthood.

Calcium and magnesium deficiency are most often blamed for bone deterioration. But increasingly, in addition to excess phosphorus, a Vitamin D deficiency may be to blame. The current societal obsession with sunscreen, however justified for other reasons, has resulted in people not getting an adequate amount of that good old “sunshine Vitamin D.” The fact that medical practitioners are beginning to see rickets (a long-dormant disease marked by soft bones and caused by Vitamin D deficiency) in young children is evidence that a whole generation of Americans may not be getting adequate exposure to the sun in their formative years. As little as 20 minutes a day in the sun – without the barrier of sunblock – is an important contributor to bone health for people of all ages.

The good news is, the path toward osteoporosis can be reversed – no matter what stage your bones are in currently. Once your overall health and risk of osteoporosis are assessed through testing, DCIW designs a personalized program to help you maintain or restore bone strength. Such a program might include specific supervised exercises such as weightlifting, along with dietary guidelines and nutritional supplementation.