Lead Poisoning Causes Osteoporosis
Lead linked to osteoporosis
Over the past years scientists have been able to establish that the human skeleton is a storehouse for lead in people who were exposed to high levels of this environmental toxin in their childhood, however there were speculations that the this storage was benign and did not risk lives. This has since changed as recent studies have showed that this exposure to lead is indeed dangerous as lead causes an odd chain reaction.
To investigate the link between lead and osteoporosis, the researchers at the University of Rochester supported with a grant from the National Institutes of Health began a long term study in 2004; this study unearthed the relationship between exposure to lead during early age and osteoporosis later in life. This study was to verify the theory that lead in the bones can cause osteoporosis. It can also slow down healing after fractures; and skew the results of DEXA scan, which measure bone mineral density.
Even before this research it had been speculated that that early exposure to high levels of lead can slow children’s physical and mental growth. However, the effects of lead on the bones of children were not well known. The contribution that lead had in deteriorating bone health in young adults when the bones are supposed to reaching their peak density was not known. Researchers have shown that long-term, exposure to lead, and absorption of lead into the bones, may be responsible for up to 10% of the lowered bone density we experience later in life. When bones fail to reach their maximum density when we are at our 20’s as a result of exposure to lead for a long time by the time we will reach 60 years of age our bones will already be thinner than normal. The boomers are said to be the age group that will be adversely affected by this exposure to lead. Baby boomers refer to those people who were born between 1946 and 1964 during the World War II baby boom. They are said to mostly at risk since they were expose to high levels of lead during childhood. During this time the lead gasoline were commonly used and so were the lead paints that were used in homes. Water was also transported inn lead pipes to the faucets.
According to Dr. Edward Puzas, who was leading the University of Rochester research team, preliminary studies have shown lead disrupting the normal process of bone breakdown and buildup, causing the bones to skew more towards breakdown. He also noticed that once women reach menopause, lack of estrogen speeds bone breakdown even more. Therefore Boomer women approaching menopause are expected to lose bone at a faster rate than women not exposed to high levels of lead during childhood.
Dr. Puzas and his team have not only been studying incidence of osteoporosis diagnosis in Boomer women, but also how well their fractures heal, if they do break a bone. In Previous animal studies they have done it has been evident that lead can affect healing speed for fractures however Dr. Puzas and his team are yet to replicate those results using human data.
Lead interferes with DEXA scan
Through their research they have been able to also verify that that lead can interfere with the chief method doctors use to determine bone density, the DEXA scan. According to Dr. Puzas lead can make the bones appear denser they really are by 11% when scanned on the DEXA scan.
“…It’s frustrating to think that we could be helping people with osteoporosis, but we’re not because the lead in their bones is masking the disease,” Dr. Puzas said, in an interview on the University of Rochester Web site.
When exposed to lead it first accelerates bone growth but then eventually it limits the growth of bones so that it doesn’t the high peak bone mass is not achieved. When this happens then it turns out as a risk factor to osteoporosis as the young person will be aging.
“As a child, lead appears to accelerate bone development and maturation, so that lead-exposed children actually have a higher bone density than those not exposed to environmental lead,” said James Campbell, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Pediatrics and a co-investigator of the study. “But, we believe this higher bone density effect is short-lived, and in fact, we believe it actually prevents these children from achieving an optimal peak bone mass later on in life.”
- Edward Puzas, Ph.D., professor of Orthopedics and director of the overall project, added that limiting peak bone mass has dire consequences as a person begins to age.
“When everyone begins to lose bone mass starting at around age 50, lead-exposed individuals are at a higher risk for bone fractures and osteoporosis – and probably at an earlier age than the typical osteoporosis patient.”
Bone health is paramount to every human being as there are very many conditions that are pegged on bone health. these may include arthritis and osteoporosis just mention a few this is why here at AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center we are committed to availing the best integrative approaches to treatment of diseases. Visit as at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) will be of help.
Osteoporosis and Lead Poisoning
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