Key takeaways
- Smoking impacts bone mass, increasing osteoporosis risk.
- Chemicals hinder nutrient absorption and hormonal balance.
- Quitting smoking is crucial for bone health.
- Exercise, calcium, vitamin D, balanced diet essential.
- Regular check-ups monitor bone health progress.
When you lack bone mass, you are at a high risk of osteoporosis and having fractured bones after a single slip and fall. Mostly, people worry about this situation upon reaching retirement age and beyond – but if you’re a frequent smoker, you might want to double back a little bit.
It’s no surprise that smoking and bone mass have a negative correlation. The chemicals in cigarette smoke can reduce the essential nutrients absorbed by your bones to keep it well-nourished, and it also affects other systems that keep your bones in good shape.
In today’s post, let’s talk about how smoking can thin your bones and make them fragile and brittle, and what you can do about it.
The Relationship Between Smoking and Bone Mass
Without bones, we would likely roll or flow like blobs – bones are the structural supports of our entire body. You can imagine that if your bones turn brittle, it can collapse like a house with a poor foundation.
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Children consume milk (a source of calcium) alongside various sources of vitamin D to ensure their bones grow properly and become sturdy over time. But it’s not just children who need these – adults must also make sure they have adequate levels of both to keep their bones healthy, even as they become older adults.
Unfortunately, smokers have a lower intake of calcium and vitamin D than their non-smoking counterparts.
Influence of Smoking on Bone Growth
Aside from being the cause of numerous fatal yet preventable diseases, cigarette smoke can also cause a smoker’s bones to turn weak and brittle.
According to studies, smokers typically live a sedentary lifestyle, which can be detrimental to their muscle and bone growth. Whether they have strong or poor appetites due to smoking, obesity can place enough stress on the bones and cause it to turn brittle and fracture easily (or weaken the bones in smokers who don’t often eat or have poor diets).
With insufficient sources of calcium, vitamin D, protein, and exercise, it’s not surprising that they’re at the highest risk of having low bone density levels as they age.
Furthermore, studies have shown that chemicals in cigarette smoke limit the body’s calcium and vitamin D intake, which can lead to brittle bones. So, even if you were to consume enough of these two, the chemicals in cigarette smoke significantly reduces what your bones are absorbing.
Fortunately, you can restore your calcium levels with a good diet once you stop smoking for good.
Effects of Smoking on Hormones and Bone Mass
The endocrine system, the system responsible for hormone activity and production in male and female bodies, is also directly affected by the chemicals in cigarette smoke.
By affecting hormone levels, a smoker’s bone growth and development becomes imbalanced. In some cases, it could even lead to low oestrogen levels so severe that it could turn bones brittle and weak enough to accelerate osteoporosis in men but more so in women.
Can Smoking Cause Osteoporosis?
Given the data and studies mentioned above about smoking and bone mass, it’s no surprise that smoking accelerates osteoporosis.
As smoking reduces your calcium and vitamin D intake and oestrogen levels in your body, you will likely experience osteoporosis much earlier, quite possible right after retirement or even before if you’re a severely chronic smoker.
In addition to the pains of brittle bones due to smoking, you might have also developed chronic lung, stomach, heart, and various other conditions that can prove lethal later on if you don’t stop smoking for good.
Lifestyle Choices for Maintaining Bone Health in Smokers
If you’re currently concerned about your smoking and its effects on the bone mass of your body, it’s not yet too late. There are plenty of proactive lifestyle choices that you can change in your routine to reduce the risks (or even eliminate them altogether) and maintain your bone health.
Quit Smoking
The most impactful step smokers can take to safeguard their bone health is to quit smoking altogether. You can halt further damage and allow your body to repair itself by stopping smoking today.
We suggest seeing a GP and going through a smoking cessation journey for the smoothest and most effective results.
Exercise
Jogging outside won’t just give you a regular source of vitamin D, but you can also strengthen your musculoskeletal system.
Regular weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises, alongside walking, jogging, weightlifting, or yoga, can improve your bone health, encourage more nutrient absorption, and reduce the risk of fractures even in your later years.
Calcium
Ex-smokers may have a higher calcium requirement to make up for lost time and nutrients due to smoking, but after that, you can expect your bone condition to improve.
Include calcium-rich foods such as dairy products, leafy greens, and fortified foods in the diet to meet your nutrient needs – and maintain them further to keep your bones in good shape.
Vitamin D
As mentioned, vitamin D is vital for calcium absorption and bone mineralization. Now that you’ve quit smoking, you can expect vitamin D intake whenever you get sun exposure and consume vitamin D-rich foods like fatty fish, eggs, and fortified foods.
Balanced Diet
A balanced diet rich in nutrients such as magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin K, and antioxidants is also essential for overall bone health.
Not only will consuming a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats provide your body enough nutrients to keep your bones in shape, but it also helps your heart, lungs, and other organs recover from the damaging effects of cigarette smoke.
Scheduled Checkups
Regular check-ups with healthcare professionals will allow you to monitor your bone health and address any concerns or deficiencies promptly. Bone density scans and blood tests can assess bone health and see if your better lifestyle choices are making a long-lasting impact on your body.
Summary
The negative relationship between smoking and bone mass can’t be overstated – chemicals in cigarette smoke affect the much-needed nutrition your bones need and disrupts the hormones responsible for keeping it in good shape. By stopping smoking and adopting wiser routines and diets in your life, you can slow down or even reverse the cycle of brittle bones and risk of osteoporosis as you grow old.
Now, we understand that quitting smoking is a long and difficult road, but it doesn’t have to be that way – you won’t be alone in this journey.
Smokefree Clinic gives you access to many medically reviewed and trustworthy resources that can inform and aid you in your path to wellness, so have a look around!
If you’re ready to get started, Smokefree can connect you to friendly Australian healthcare professionals who excel in helping patients quit smoking for good.