Is osteoporosis a feminist issue?

The causes of osteoporosis are given here:
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Osteoporosis/Pages/Causes.aspx

Women are at an even greater risk of developing osteoporosis when:

?they have an early menopause (before the age of 45)
?they have a hysterectomy before the age of 45, particularly when the ovaries are also removed
?their periods are absent for a long time (more than six months) as a result of over-exercising or over-dieting

If you have a disease of the hormone-producing glands, you may be at higher risk of developing osteoporosis.

Other factors that can increase the risk of osteoporosis and broken bones include:

?a family history of osteoporosis
?a parental history of hip fracture

?a low body mass index (BMI of 19kg/m2 or less)
?long-term use of high-dose corticosteroid treatment (widely used for conditions such as arthritis and asthma), which can affect bone strength
?heavy drinking and smoking
?rheumatoid arthritis

?malabsorption problems, as experienced in coeliac disease and Crohn's disease
?some drugs used in breast cancer and prostate cancer treatment which affect hormone levels
?long periods of inactivity, such as long-term bed rest

My mother has osteoporosis - she has always been on a diet, as long as I remember. Many of the diets were bizarre (there was a year where she seemed to eat only eggs). Going to a restaurant with her was always embarassing for us, as she had a crazy list of foods that she claimed she could not eat.

When she was diagnosed with osteoporosis, she was tested for wheat intolerance, as it can seemingly be a factor. Although we know that all the tests came back as negative, my mother has still found it necessary to cut all gluten from her diet (yes, I know they are not the same thing). As she is still food combining as well as suddenly excluding anything that might possibly contain a trace of gluten, she has a very peculiar and restricted diet.

I am convinced that she has had an eating disorder for as long as I can remember and that her dieting might have been a factor in her developing osteoporosis. I bet that there are many like her.

On the other hand, I've always had an enthusiastic attitude to food, especially that which is high in protein, and I've always been slim. This means that I have been accused of being bulimic on more than one occasion, by women who sit toying with salad leaves, eyeing my plate in restaurants and talking tediously about their food sins. I'd agree with a previous poster that a huge proportion of women seem to have issues with food.

my udnerstanding (and I am no expert) is that childbearing itself can increase risk of osteoporosis, as the baby takes the calcium. I don't know whether it's possible to replace that calcium during or after pregnancy

That's very interesting Cleverything.

RE: soya, I'd been worried about that too, but have read a few articles along these lines lately - www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/01/anti-soya-brigade-ignore-scaremongering

My brain's aching from trying to understand some proper chemistry tonight.
Not needed to do that in a long time.

High intake of animal protein, including dairy increases the amount of calcium the body excretes.

Cholesterol and collagen are both synthesised in the body.

Isn't osteoporosis partly hereditary? None of the women I know who suffer from it are vegetarians, nor have they been exposed to rationing in childhood: and some of them are Swedish so have always had a diet very high in calcium (drinking large quantities of milk). They have all led healthy active lifestyles until the condition got in the way.

No, Quorn has egg in it. Soya has loads of protein in it. If she's eating nuts, pulses and tofu, and is eating enough calories each day she'd have no trouble getting enough protein.
Food combining for protein isn't difficult if a variety of grains and pulses are eaten.

My understanding is that it is calcium intake in teenage and early adulthood that affects bone mass. Increasing intake at a later stage won't affect osteoporosis.

Animal products aren't necessary for good nutrition if you're eating a balanced vegan diet though.

And vegans would certainly disagree that animals aren't hurt in the dairy industry. I think you might help your friend more if you understood veganism better.

Is her diet restricted other ways? Does she not eat nuts or oils etc.?

Yes floyjoy the vegans I know have that diet for ethical reasons rather than anything else.

On meat. It is very interesting. I love meat, personally. Obviously red meat is bad in large regular doses but equally it is quick, easy calories for the body, all that lovely protein, and of course stacks of iron. Near my old work there was a special sandwich bar that had fresh roasted joints of meat and they would carve it for you to go into fresh bread to make the most delicious sandwiches you can imagine. It was takeaway only and the queue was often very long - and I was often the only woman in it. Which was interesting. I asked a friend what she made of it. She said that women like "things like salads - pulses and so on more". Do they? Really? Is it a genuine awareness of health issues that means that women aren't queueing for meat, because of socialisation that means that women don't feel it's appropriate to eat hunks of red meat, or because women's taste buds are different to men's and they genuinely don't like it?

I would like to think that women weren't in the queue because they were getting what they really fancied eating somewhere else, whatever it might be. But knowing just how delicious these sandwiches were, I wondered whether that was really the case.

Carol J Adams's The Sexual Politics of Meat is an interesting read about the history of meat consumption (as you say, saving the meat for the hard-working husband while the children and wife have barely any food) and current cultural assumptions (her stuff on meat advertising is jaw-dropping in terms of sexism).

There are sources of calcium other than dairy. Veganism is usually an ethical or health choice rather than an attempt to limit calories/fat in a negative way. I notice a trend towards labelling vegetarian or vegan diets as forms of eating disorders which maybe reflects their growth. Are men considered to be displaying signs of an eating disorder if they chose a specific diet? Most people who adopt such a diet tend to give nutrition a lot of thought, more than they did in the past usually and more than a lot of omnivores.

Osteoporoisis - I've always had the feeling that it's considered one of those 'aging' conditions and therefore not worth giving much attention to. The fact that it impacts women, ditto. More generally, from what I see conditions that often effect older women are given short shrift. I may be wrong but I'll be finding out for myself pretty soon.

My 89 year old grandfather has osteoporosis, I can think of one other male relative who also had it. My grandfather has always eaten well, been active etc...

Hmm - I'm not sure if exercise is actually an issue wrt to women currently in their 80s. That generation certainly did more weight bearing exercise than the modern generation, and strength too - running a household was much more physically demanding than it is today.

Perhaps their osteoporosis was more dietary related whereas for my generation (born 60s) more due to lack of (or the wrong type of) exercise?

I got osteopenia (sp) after being ill with undiagnosed diabetes for several months (more like a year). I was also malnourished for the same reason. It took me over a year after the diagnosis to regain bone mass and balance my weight.

Don't know if that is relevant. I just wanted to say that vis a vis older women with osteoporsis: yes bfing was common, but so was feeding children evaporated milk as a bf substitute. Obviously this was better than the older practise of giving them gin in the same circumstances.....but probably didn't give them the best start. Plus 80 years old will have lived through the rationing in the 2WW which will have also had an impact.