Diseases Of An Aging Population Are Related

There are quite a few conditions are considered to be “agerelated”. That means, they tend to be absent in younger people and the incidence rises with age. For years, researchers have been looking for a common cause for all these conditions. One of the most prevelant current theorys is oxidative damage. What seems to be forgotten is the possibility that these conditions could be related to each other. Now, a group with the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University has found a link between the health of bones and the way the body uses and stores fat.

The process of breaking down old bone and building new bone, called remodeling, requires a fair amount of energy. The researchers had already discovered that the hormone leptin, secreted by fat cells, helps regulate the rate of bone turnover. They reasoned that messages would pass the other way as well: Something in bones would affect fat storage. In experiments using mice, the researchers found that the messenger is a protein called osteocalcin—a substance produced by osteoblasts, the cells that build new bone. If some of what comes next seems a little basic, it’s to help you understand what’s going on later. Glucose in your bloodstream can go one of two ways. First, your body uses what it needs for energy production in cells. Second, what’s left over gets turned into fat. Insulin is the hormone that opens cell walls and allows glucose to enter. When there isn’t enough insulin present, or when cells don’t respond to insulin, glucose accumulates in the bloodstream and eventually gets converted to fat by your liver. Osteocalcin stimulates the cells that make insulin, and it makes individual body cells more receptive to insulin. Together, these actions increase the efficiency with which your body burns insulin, and reduce your need for insulin, your blood levels of glucose, and the amount of glucose that’s stored as fat—all this by simply increasing your production of osteocalcin.

The surest method of correcting this is to get regular weight-bearing exercise. This means activity that increases the stress on your bones: using weights or resistance devices, vigorous walking, and even dancing. Stress on your bones creates tiny cracks in old, weak bone. Your body responds by creating more osteoblasts, which fill the cracks with new, strong bone. One way of adding stress to your bones is, of course, to gain weight. Higher body mass is associated with higher bone mass. This isn’t a license to put on weight forever, though. A trial in Turkey showed that bone health depends more on lean mass (that is, muscles) than on fat mass. And a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health showed that extreme obesity (a body mass index greater than 40) actually resulted in lower bone mass. You can also take a supplement of the amino acid Larginine, 5–6 grams per day. Remember healthy bone contributes to healthy glucose levels. Increasing the amount of new bone you build will help you directly control your weight.