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Type 2 Diabetes - Does Weight Loss Affect Your Bones?

Being overweight or obese are often problems for most people who are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. These diabetics are usually told weight loss intervention can help to control the disease as well as prevent damage to their heart and blood vessel disease.

Unfortunately, heart attacks are a prime cause of death in middle-aged people with Type 2 diabetes. Fatality rates are two to four times higher than those of middle-aged people without diabetes. Recent studies reveal between 35 and 50 percent of heart attack victims had abnormal blood sugar at the time of the attack. People with high blood pressure are also at a higher risk.

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco, United States, however, who are concerned weight loss programs could have complications, undertook a study to ascertain what effects, if any, weight loss interventions could have on the bones of people with Type 2 diabetes.


Their study, published in the Journal of Bone Mineral Research in December 2011, included 1274 obese or overweight people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

One group was given:

    an intensive lifestyle weight loss intervention, while
    the other group was given basic diabetes support and education over a period of one year.

At the end of the study weight loss, basic fitness, and blood sugar levels showed improvement in the weight loss intervention group. The bad news is the weight loss intervention group also demonstrated loss of bone mineral density in their hip and thigh bones.

People with diabetes can be susceptible to falls due to diabetic neuropathy and poor vision. Hip fractures can have serious consequences, sometimes requiring surgery, frequently limiting mobility, and sometimes even leading to death.

Fortunately, there are ways of fighting the loss of bone density. Bones need calcium, so getting enough calcium is one way of keeping your bones healthy.

    a cup of unfortified oatmeal has 4 percent of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of calcium for an adult, and a cup of fortified oatmeal has 10 per cent.
    broccoli, spinach, kale, and turnip greens are good sources of calcium. One cup of spinach contains 20 per cent of the RDA of calcium for an adult. A cup of broccoli has 4 per cent and a cup of turnip greens provides 10 per cent. A cup of kale has 9 per cent, so have a big green salad for lunch.
    calcium supplements are also available.

It's not enough though to just take calcium supplements or eat high-calcium foods; you need to cut down on foods that are diuretics: caffeine and alcohol.

To be used for bone growth and repair, calcium needs some help from vitamin D, which is often lacking in people with Type 2 diabetes:

    getting a fdw minutes of sunlight every day without a sunscreen is helpful for making vitamin D,
    foods such as soy milk can be fortified with vitamin D.
    supplements of vitamin D are recommended for those who live in latitudes with little sunlight or cold climates or those who are unable to have much sun exposure due to lifestyle or dress.

Weight-bearing exercises are also important for growth and repair of bones, so take a walk every day in addition to taking in calcium and vitamin D.

If your bone density is lowered to the point of being dangerous, it is termed osteoporosis, and medications are available to treat it. Your bone mineral density can be measured and your doctor can prescribe much needed drugs if necessary.

How do you start to create a healthy lifestyle today so you can avoid oseoporosis?


Article Source: Beverleigh H Piepers


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