Cincinnati physician creates bone density guide amid worries about children having weak bones

A study led by a Cincinnati physician has created the first ever "bone-growth guide" for children. (Source: "Little milk, exercise hurts kids' bones," Associated Press, Nov. 26, 2007.) "Dr. Heidi Kalkwarf of the Cincinnati Children's Hospital led a national study that gave bone scans to 1,500 healthy children ages 6 to 17 to see how bone mass is accumulated." The resulting bone-growth guide can be used by pediatricians like height-and-weight charts, only in this case for children at high risk for bone problems.

This guide arrives as doctors worry that "too little milk, sunshine and exercise" are leaving American children with weak bones, including in some cases rickets ... Already there's evidence that U.S. children break their arms more often today than four decades ago--girls 56% more, and boys 32% more, according to a Mayo Clinic study. Kalkwarf's hospital recently found that kids who break an arm have lower bone density than their playmates who don't. That suggests the fracture rise isn't due solely to newer forms of risky play, like inline skates."

According to experts, less than a quarter of adolescents get enough calcium. "But strong bones require more than calcium alone." Exercise is at least as important, but with childhood obesity rising, exercise among kids is falling. In addition, bodies can't absorb calcium and harden bones without vitamin D. However, kids are not getting enough exposure to sunlight, which creates vitamin D in a body, due to "computer use, urban youngsters without safe places to play outdoors and less school P.E. ... Because skin pigment alters sun absorption, black children are particularly at risk."