Fruit in your holiday stocking can help keep bones strong

ANN ARBOR-We know high-fat, high-sugar foods cause obesity and promote heart disease, but most people don't realize that sugar and fat also contribute to conditions like osteoporosis by weakening bones. If this trend continues, this overlooked 'silent robber' will begin to cripple large numbers of at-risk baby boomers, say researchers at the University of Michigan and the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute. While this high-fat, high-sugar diet trend and the subsequent risk of osteoporosis are climbing frighteningly fast, there's hope, says Ron Zernicke, dean of U-M's School of Kinesiology and a professor of orthopedic surgery and biomedical engineering. The medical community and the public can reverse this trend by confronting the problem head-on and immediately, through diet, exercise and, in some cases, medication. Demographics in the U.S. demand action now, says Cy Frank, executive director of the Alberta Bone and Joint Health Institute and an orthopedic surgeon practicing in Calgary. Baby boomers, he says, were the first generation weaned on fast food, creating a dietary legacy of high fat and sugar. Today, about a quarter of America's two-to-five-year-olds and a third of its school-age children, including adolescents, are obese or overweight.