Did you know that Asian American women are at high risk for developing osteoporosis? Statistics actually show that Asian women in the United States have many of the same risk factors as Caucasian women. If you are Asian American woman, it is important that you understand what osteoporosis is and the steps you should take to prevent or treat it.

Following are some of the issues that are causing a rise in the number of Asian women being diagnosed with osteoporosis:
Asian women have been found to consume less calcium. This is mostly due to the fact that up to 90% of Asian American women are lactose intolerant and avoid using dairy products that contain calcium. As you may know, calcium is essential for maintaining a healthy skeleton.

Asian women generally have lower hip fracture rates than Caucasian women. Even so, Asian women seem to have as high a rate of incident of vertebrae fractures as Caucasian women.

Additionally, slender women have less bone mass and are a greater risk for bone fractures related to osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is a debilitating disease brought on by low bone mass. It causes bones to be vulnerable to fractures. If you don’t take steps to prevent osteoporosis, or you have it and don’t get treatment, it can progress painlessly until a bone breaks which will most likely be in your hip, spine, or wrist. Spinal fractures are the reason why you see some older women with that ‘hunched’ appearance. Those fractures can also result in a loss of height, in addition to chronic pain.

Some of the issues that could increase your chance of developing osteoporosis are:

* Caucasian and Asian ancestry
* Having a thin, small-boned body frame
* Previous fractures or a family history of fractures resulting from osteoporosis
* An estrogen deficiency resulting from:
* early menopause due to natural circumstances
* early menopause resulting from surgical removal of the ovaries
* as a result of prolonged amenorrhea
* Aging
* A diet low in calcium
* Smoking
* Excessive alcohol consumption
* Extensive use of certain medications

Even if one or some of these conditions apply to you, you can still take steps to prevent it from happening to you. The best defense is to take care to keep you bones strong, especially before the age of 20. Eat a well-balanced diet rich in calcium and vitamin D and exercise regularly ? walking, jogging, dancing and lifting weights are a few of the better routines. Don’t smoke and limit your intake of alcohol. Talk to your doctor, especially if you have a family history of osteoporosis because there are painless testing methods and medications to treat it.

I always advocate self-care as the first step in preventing and treating health challenges. When it comes to breast health, the importance of self-care is a message I can’t share often enough. It is great to see pink ribbons everywhere in October during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! If I had my wish, every pink ribbon would carry an additional important message for women.

That message would read “You can improve your breast health and reduce the risk of breast cancer right now with a few simple lifestyle changes.”

We may not be able to control where we live or our genetic risk factors- it’s true. However, a growing body of research is showing us that women really can make a difference in their breast health through diet, exercise, and weight management.

These simple steps can help optimize your body’s hormonal balance and reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, and provide additional health, anti-aging, and disease-prevention benefits.

We need to emphasize that everyone should be focusing on what we can control not what we can’t.

- We can evaluate our hormone levels with a saliva test. The best way for premenopausal and postmenopausal women to know if their bodies have an imbalance of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone is to do a saliva test. Saliva Testing is the most accurate and easy way to this.
- We can use bio-identical hormones if we need hormone supplementation. Bio Identical means that the molecular structure of the hormones identically match the hormones made by our body as opposed to Pregnant Mare’s Urine which is natural to horses not humans.

- We can change our habits: reduce alcohol consumption and quit smoking.

- We can manage our weight and exercise daily. Studies also show that maintaining a healthy, average weight is just as important in favorably influencing the estrogen/progesterone ratio. Regular exercise is equally important. On the other hand, obesity, high insulin levels, alcohol intake, smoking, oral contraceptives, hormones from meat and meat products, pesticides, and herbicides can swing this ratio in the wrong direction.

- We can eat a balanced diet choosing Eat organic to avoid pesticides, herbicides, and estrogens in meat and dairy products. Include one to three servings of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and cabbage in your diet each day. Studies show that Indole 3 Carbinol the active ingredient helps balance estrogen levels.

- We Can supplement wisely with EFA’s, essential fatty acids and use a fruit and vegetable concentrate if you do not eat 5 – 8 servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

- We can do BSE’s- breast self exams becoming more familiar with our own body

- We can become better informed – read Dr. John Lee’s “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer” as a start.