By 2020, half of all Americans over age 50 will be at increased risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low bone mass if no immediate steps are taken, according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Bone Health and Osteoporosis. [i] Additionally, research shows that adolescents and children in the United States aren’t getting enough bone-building nutrients in their daily diets, putting them at risk for fractures now and osteoporosis, a disease in which bones become weak and more likely to break, later in life. [ii]
The National Dairy Council®, along with four leading health professional organizations, has launched an education campaign to promote healthy bones throughout life. The campaign communicates to parents and families that eating a healthy diet that includes the recommended three servings a day of nutrient-rich low-fat or fat-free dairy foods, such as milk, cheese or yogurt, particularly during childhood and adolescence, helps reduce the risk of osteoporosis. The American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association and the National Medical Association support the campaign.
Healthcare professionals recognize the importance of educating families about bone health, as they are beginning to see an increased rate of bone fractures among children. [iii] A growing body of research demonstrates that low bone mass is contributing to fractures in children, including data that illustrate just as many forearm fractures among 13-year-old girls as among women ages 60 and older, due to low bone mass. [iv] , [v] Because of this, the campaign urges families to develop healthy lifestyle habits to reduce the risk of osteoporosis throughout life, not simply in the later years.
“Parents need to recognize that osteoporosis is a pediatric disease that shows itself in the geriatric stage of life,” said Jatinder Bhatia, MD, FAAP, of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “In other words, the bone mass built during childhood and adolescence helps determine lifetime risk of fractures and osteoporosis as people age.”
Dr. Lisa Hark, director of the Nutrition Education and Prevention Program at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and host of the first season of “Honey, We’re Killing the Kids,” a television show on The Learning Channel, says parents need to know that it’s more than just the calcium and vitamin D in dairy foods that help build stronger bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis – it’s dairy’s entire package of bone-building nutrients, which includes calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, protein, and vitamin D.
“Eating three servings of low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt or reduced-fat cheese each day in a healthy diet ensures adequate intake of essential nutrients that can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis years from now,” Dr. Hark says. “Parents should also encourage their children to be physically active.”
The U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Bone Health and Osteoporosis calls for all Americans to take action to improve and maintain healthy bones. The report notes the importance of consuming three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy foods each day, consistent with the recommendation in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
A recent survey [vi] of approximately 1,000 moms nationwide found that more than 60 percent are concerned that they and their children are not getting enough bone-building nutrients to help prevent fractures and osteoporosis. Also, more than nine out of 10 moms agree that when children consume three servings of dairy foods a day, such as milk, cheese or yogurt, the risk of osteoporosis later in life is reduced. However, less than half of moms said they themselves do not consume the recommended three servings of dairy foods a day. And data show that less than half of children ages 2-8 and only one-fourth of children ages 9-19 get the recommended three servings of dairy foods a day. [vii]
For more information, visit www.3aday.org.
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[i] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Bone Health and Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 2004.
[ii] American Academy of Pediatrics, Optimizing bone health and calcium intakes of infants, children, and adolescents. Pediatrics. 2006; 117 (2):578-585.
[iii] Goulding A, Jones LE, Taylor RW, Manning PJ, Williams SM. More broken bones: a 4-year double cohort study of young girls with and without distal forearm fractures. J Bone Miner Res. 2000;15 :2011 –2018
[iv] Goulding A, Rockell JE, Black RE, Grant AM, Jones IE, Williams SM. Children who avoid drinking cow's milk are at increased risk for prepubertal bone fractures. J Am Diet Assoc. 104(2): 250-3, 2004
[v] Bauer, G.C.H. (1970). "Epidemiology of Fractures." In Uriel S. Barzel (Ed.), Osteoporosis (pp. 153-163). New York, NY: Grune & Stratton.
[vi] August 2006 survey of 1,006 women with children ages 2-18 conducted by Impulse Research on behalf of the National Dairy Council®. The overall sampling error for this survey is +/- 3% at the 95% level of confidence.
[vii] National Dairy Council, unpublished data based on the National Health and Nutrition Survey (NHANES), 1999-2002.