Got Milk?
October 7, 2019
Did your mom ever tell you “drink your milk so your bones will grow big and strong” when you were a kid?
Well you’re not the only one, and it’s not just an old wives’ tale, there is something to it! Milk is an excellent source of dietary calcium, which is essential for bone health.
Just drinking milk won’t guarantee bone health, but it is a good start. Maintaining adequate calcium intake, supplementing with vitamin D, and regular weight-bearing exercise are essential for developing and maintaining adequate bone density to prevent high risk of fractures later in life.
WellMax Health Care Center has its own state of the art Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) machine, which measures the bone density to determine if you have any minor bone density loss (osteopenia) or have progressed to severe bone density loss (osteoporosis). If either condition is present, you are at a greater risk of fracture especially of the spine or hip, which significantly increases the rate of mortality (1). Along with lifestyle modifications and certain medications, the signs of osteopenia and osteoporosis can be minimized or reversed, thus reducing the risk of fatal fractures. In addition, DEXA can be utilized to measure body composition more accurately than calculating body mass index (BMI). This gives detailed information about bone mass, lean body mass, and fat percentage (2), which can help guide treatment plans to reduce risk of other serious medical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Schedule your DEXA at WellMax today to optimize your health.
