Osteoporosis and long distance cyclists

[Westinghouse]

Well, whatever. I have been looking it up and that was what I found, so far. I have only those two books with me, and I am overseas in a place where books on that sort of thing are not easy to get, or are prohibitively expensive. What they are saying is that if you are losing calcium through the excretory process to the point there is a negative mineral balance, there is some  dysfunction causing that much calcium to be flushed out. In other words, your system is not properly metabolizing that mineral, and the cause of that problem could be too much vitamin D, too much protein, alcohol, smoking etc. The sweating is not the actual cause of the osteoporosis because if the system were properly metabolizing the mineral, it would not be available in such large quantities to be drained out to begin with. Being mindful that we are talking about losing calcium to the point that some harmful debilitating disease such as osteoporosis results from it. We are not talking normal loss of calcium here. The body takes what it needs and lets go of the rest where vitamins and minerals are concerned. If you have a proper diet, you should not have to worry about calcium, minerals, and vitamins. If there is a problem with metabolizing, the problem may very well be with the diet, but there are also other causes for malabsorbtion and such.

Nutrition used to be a favorite private study of mine, but I have not kept up on it for years.

[biker_james]

Weight bearing exercise is important for bone density, and cycling doesn't qualify. I think cyclists get in trouble if their only form of exercise is cycling. Mix in some running, or weight lifting, push ups, whatever to ensure strong bones for life.

[Westinghouse]

I second that totally. Jogging, running, lifting weights, calesthenics. I have done it for years, but not in the past few months. I ran / jogged for years and years and was still doing so regularly up until some months ago. I have always read that kind of exerceise increases bone thickness and density and strength. Not to mention too much about the fact that you feel a lot better in just about every way with a proper regimen of exercise and a good diet. The longest I have ever run at one time without stopping was seventeen miles. I once worked out extensively three times a week for eight months, and went on a real healthy diet before going on a long bicycle tour. There I was, 53 or 54 years old, and I was built pretty darn good. I have a photo of myself, and if you had not been able to see my face, you might have thought I was thirty at first glance. The problem is I simply do not pump up the way I did when I was younger. Father time has a lot more to say about such matters than I will ever have. Therefore, I do have some extensive experience with what Biker James is talking about, and I wholeheartedly agree. Varied forms of exercise, aerobic and anaerobic.