One of the things that really scares the shit out of me about anorexic girls (well, besides the obvious starving themselves to death bit) is the osteoporosis thing. The basic truth about human bone physiology is that we build up all our bone density during those important child/adolescent/young adult years. In everybody, the peak bone density occurs in the mid-20's, generally hits a bit of a plateau throughout early adulthood, and then declines for the rest of your life. There are a few osteoporosis drugs that can raise your bone density a wee bit and, more importantly, have been shown to reduce fractures in people with osteoporosis, but the truth of the matter is that with all those good things we do to try to keep our bones healthy (weight bearing exercise, calcium, vitamin D, etc), the best we can hope for is to keep the decline as slow as possible.
That's why anorexia in young women really frightens me. By depriving themselves of nutrients and preventing bone formation during that early window of opportunity, they're basically irreversibly screwing up their bone density for the rest of their lives. Eating disorders are terrible things, but luckily many people are able to fight back, regain their health, and go on to live fruitful lives. The body is incredibly resilient, and can fully recover from a lot of the abuse. However, there are no second chances when it comes to bone density. This is one of those things where the choices you make before age 25 are going to have to last a lifetime. It sucks. :(
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Date: 2005-06-07 02:26 pm (UTC)That's why anorexia in young women really frightens me. By depriving themselves of nutrients and preventing bone formation during that early window of opportunity, they're basically irreversibly screwing up their bone density for the rest of their lives. Eating disorders are terrible things, but luckily many people are able to fight back, regain their health, and go on to live fruitful lives. The body is incredibly resilient, and can fully recover from a lot of the abuse. However, there are no second chances when it comes to bone density. This is one of those things where the choices you make before age 25 are going to have to last a lifetime. It sucks. :(