Bone Health for Life

Consumers

Home

GPs and Health Professionals

20s to 40s

See Shortcuts to Resources

20s to 40s Life can be hectic in your twenties, thirties and forties with friends, family, and work commitments. If you did not think much about the state of your bones before, now is a good time to begin.

Bone Production

Bone is living tissue made up of specialised bone cells and, like the rest of the body, it is constantly being broken down and renewed. Bone growth is nearly complete by the end of puberty, with only a small increase in bone strength occurring after the late teenage years. From the mid 30s on there is a mismatch between bone production and bone breakdown. Bone loss starts to increase more than bone gain.

It is part of the normal ageing process that bones lose their calcium (mineral) and protein (collagen) content. Although your bone mass may have reached its peak, sustaining bone density and strength will provide a good basis for you to withstand the effects of the age related bone loss better as well as you being less likely to develop osteoporosis at a latter stage. Osteoporosis is a condition which results in a loss of bone strength making bones more fragile and likely to break.

Maintaining Healthy Bones

Gaining bone strength

As with muscles, bone also needs physical activity to gain strength. The types of physical activities most beneficial to bones, include weight- bearing and strength training exercises. The term weight-bearing refers to exercises performed on your feet where gravity is used as a force. Examples include walking, running, jumping, tennis and dancing.
Strength training exercises includes weight lifting and other resistive exercises.

Healthy Eating

The years between 20-40 represent both your reproductive and premenopausal years thus it is vital that you have an adequate calcium intake. The major source of calcium comes from dairy foods. Women should aim to have 2-3 serves of dairy foods per day in order to meet their daily calcium requirement.

Vitamin D is also an important requirement for maintaining healthy bones as it assists in depositing calcium in bone. The major source of vitamin D is from the manufacture of this vitamin in the skin on exposure to sunlight. Only 10 – 15 minutes of exposure to outdoor sun is necessary for the production of vitamin D.

Hormones

Hormones such as oestrogen are important in the development and maintenance of bone health. If you have regular menstrual periods you will have sufficient levels of oestrogen to provide adequate bone protection.

Avoid Smoking

To protect bones it is advisable not to smoke. Women who smoke lose bone strength faster than women who do not smoke.

Special Considerations

Osteoporosis is a condition most often associated with age as loss of bone mineral is part of normal ageing. However some young women may develop osteoporosis at an earlier stage of life due to various illnesses or hormonal deficiencies.

During these years many women start to think about issues relating to their bone health. Often this is spurred on by the fact that many women are finding that their mothers have developed osteoporosis. Women who have a family history of osteoporosis are at high risk of developing the condition in the future.

Eating Disorders

Women who develop eating disorders in early adolescence when the skeleton is in the process of growing severely reduce the attainable peak bone mass that is eventually achieved. This subsequently can lead to the development of osteoporosis at a young age, especially if the eating disorder persists for several years. It is not uncommon for women who have had an eating disorder since their teenage years to develop osteoporosis by their early 20’s. Even women who develop an eating disorder after the process of skeletal growth has been completed, will have a reduction in their bone mineral density.

Athletes

Adolescent females and young women who are involved in a high level of training who have amenorrhoea (menstruation stops) and disordered eating habits are at high risk of developing osteoporosis.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women

Calcium requirements are increased in pregnancy, particularly during the third trimester. This increase is necessary to meet the requirements for bone mineralization in the foetal skeleton.

Women who breastfeed also have high requirements for calcium in order to allow for milk production.

Normal pregnancy and breastfeeding is associated with a certain amount of bone mineral loss, which generally recovers within a year if the woman is not pregnant again or breastfeeding.

Approaching midlife

Women generally start to lose bone even in the years leading up to menopause due to the fact that oestrogen levels are already starting to drop even though menstrual periods may still be occurring.

Your gastrointestinal system becomes less efficient at absorbing calcium from food and it is believed that this process is also due to the loss of oestrogen. The kidney also becomes less efficient in conserving calcium, setting up a state of potential calcium loss in the blood. Your body compensates for this by drawing calcium out of the bones. The way to reduce the loss of calcium from the bones is to increase calcium rich foods in your diet.

Early Menopause

Menopause occurring before the age of 45 years is regarded as early menopause. Women who undergo early menopause, potentially start to lose bone at a significantly earlier age than women who undergo menopause in their fifties. This puts them at a greater risk of developing osteoporosis at an earlier age than women who undergo menopause at midlife.