Cycling May Lead To Lower Bone Density
April 3, 2009 by Scott Wharton
Filed under Fitness
Bicycling is great exercise. I used to do quite a bit of bicycling in my teens and my 20’s, but it’s kind of hard down here in NC because there is no paves shoulders on the road and it’s dangerous to try to ride on secondary roads. When I move back up to Upstate New York I’ll be buying another bicycle and
Image: Newscom
getting back in to it. Bicycling burns calories but according to a recent study that was featured in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, cyclist may not be consuming enough calories.
The study showed that cyclists were susceptible to lower bone density due to not consuming enough calories, even when calcium intake was higher than most athletes. The specific area where bone density was lower was in the spine of road cyclists, but cyclist of the mountain bike and rough terrain variety didn’t seem to have this problem. The problem is that cyclist’s weight being distributed and supported by the bicycle didn’t allow for proper bone growth as out bodies are adaptive organisms. This is also a problem with swimmer and an issue that has been discussed for years about astronauts spending long periods of time in space.
Swimmer and cyclist often burn a lot more calories than the average athlete and this is also concern for bone loss due to lack of caloric consumption. Besides the obvious increase of healthy calorie intake, what can you do to prevent bone loss?
“Unfortunately, many people consider osteoporosis a disease that primarily concerns women and the elderly,” says Dr. Warren P. Levy, President, and CEO of Unigene Laboratories. “Of course, exercise is good for people, but in order to maintain healthy bones, avid cyclists and swimmers should be mindful of incorporating cross-training weight-bearing exercise into their routines. People do not achieve peak bone mass until their late twenties, so if cyclists or swimmers are in their early or mid twenties, and they’re not doing any exercise that’s going to load their spine and help them achieve peak bone mass, they may be putting themselves at risk for a fracture.”
Read more about cycling and osteoporosis at Newswise.com.
