Last updated on May 14th, 2025 at 01:03 pm
We all know that as we grow old our bones become weak and the chances of fracture injury increase. This is because of a bone degenerative condition known as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a condition in which, with age, the bones become porous, which are normally solid and strong in younger people.
Doctors usually prescribe calcium supplementation for osteoporosis in later age, when diagnosed with osteoporosis.
But a recent study1 reveals that calcium supplementation a little earlier, i.e, age of 35 or younger, can prevent risk of osteoporosis later in life. The study was published in the online journal eLife. Let us find out more about this study.
Effect of calcium supplementation in people under 35 years old
In addition to nutrition for stronger bones, doctors commonly prescribe calcium supplementation for the treatment of osteoporosis. Presently, this supplementation is normally prescribed when someone is diagnosed with osteoporosis, commonly seen after the age of 50 years.
However, numerous recent studies have concluded that there is no evidence for associations between calcium supplements and reduced risk of fracture or improvement of bone density in people aged over 50 years1.
Scientists at Wenzhou Medical University, China, were curious whether calcium supplementation in people under 35 years can prevent osteoporosis later in life. For this, the researcher chose to analyse data from 43 research papers from various journals published till April 25, 2021. It involved roughly 7382 participants.
The journals from which the data were collected include:
- Pubmed,
- Embase,
- ProQuest,
- CENTRAL,
- WHO Global Index Medicus,
- Clinical Trials.gov,
- WHO ICTRP,
- China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and
- Wanfang
In most of the studies, the daily calcium dosage did not exceed 1000 mg/day, and the calcium supplementation intervention odes not exceed 2 years.
Actually, a healthy bone has a sufficient mass that makes it strong. The bone mass gradually increases from childhood till 20 to 35 years of age. After 35, the bone mass gradually declines, making it porous and weak. This is why the elderly are more prone to fracture of hip fractures due to fall injuries.
According to a study, osteoporosis is more prevalent in females and is seen more in African and European countries 2.
In the present study, Chinese doctors analysed data from all these studies, and the results were encouraging.
Result
The result of the study is encouraging, as it finds that there was significant improvement in BMD, especially at the femoral neck. Femoral neck is the anatomical term for the upper part of the thigh bone at the hip.
Here, it would be crucial to mention that most of the fractures after fall injury in seniors happen at the femoral neck.
The study concludes that the person taking calcium supplements early in life, before 35 years of age, is less likely to develop osteoporosis later in life. So, this is a reminder for younger people to start adding calcium supplementation to their diet from today.
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The author is a physiotherapist who has been practising for the last 17 years. He holds a Bachelor's in Physiotherapy (BPT) from SVNIRTAR (Swami Vivekananda National Institute of Rehabilitation and Research), one of the prestigious physiotherapy schools in India.
Whatever he learns dealing with his patient, he shares it with the world through blogs and e-books. He also owns a YouTube channel, "Sunit Physiotherapist" with over 8 lakh active subscribers. Here, he shares everything he gets to learn serving the patient.
