Originally Posted by !!Comatoa$ted
It is interesting that you mention the Japanese. From what I understand is that Asians tend to have the least dense bones in comparison to Europeans and Africans. But I also understand that they have the least incidence of fractured hips in the elderly, as well as a longer life span. From what I gather many elderly Asians are very active in their lifestyles with Tai chi and the like. This supposedly develops or maintains strength and balance, and is very easy on the joints as well.
I have also heard that soft drink consumption leads to leaching of calcium from the bones and teenage females need to promote bone density, but in fact many do the opposite by drinking pop.
I heard an anecdote as well that few elderly women earlier in the 20th century developed osteoporosis and broken hips were much less of a problem. It was claimed that people were exhumed and their bone densities were looked at, and these people had much higher bone densities than many people in the present.
I think this shows that exercise is more important than diet. The elderly in Asian countries aren't as pampered here; there's no rest/retirement homes. They still have to do a lot for themselves. I'm sure the TaiChi helps with coordination greatly. My grandma (who's Asian), lives in Canda fell on the ice and had no problems breaking her hip!
Yeah, the phosphoric acid in soda can inhibit calcium-absoption. But also high iron-intake will do the same as well. A lot of women take iron-supplements and overdoing those will reduce your absorption of calcium. However, bone-density relates more to stress-levels than calcium intake anyway (your body will only absorb as much as it needs, you can't force more). The bone-strength has more to do with weight-bearing on the bones and as you stress them more, they build up density to deal with the load. Contrast the bones in the pitching-arms of baseball pitchers vs. the dormant arm. Strength-exercises in the gym and running have been shown to really help older people maintain bone-density, much more than taking calcium supplements.