By Joanne Littlefield
Deep within the human body, crucial but silent construction takes place. Like demolition and reconstruction teams working on high-rise buildings, cells are either slowly forming new bone tissue or removing it. This remodeling is affected by daily food and activity choices. The human skeleton not only provides the framework for movement but also serves as a depository for calcium and red blood cells in bone marrow.

"Not all bone is created equally," says Scott Going, co-principal investigator for an ongoing University of Arizona Bone Estrogen and Strength Training (BEST) study. Going, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, is studying the effects of exercise and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on bone mineral density, soft tissue composition, and muscle strength in post-menopausal women.

How do you convince people that what they can't see happening to their bodies on a day-to-day basis will make a difference — years from now? There are, in fact, four major times during life that bone growth is most affected: adolescence, college age, premenopausal (28-38 years) and postmenopausal years. "We call osteoporosis a pediatric disease with a geriatric outcome," says Linda Houtkooper, a UA nutritional scientist and co-principal investigator of the BEST Study.

Fifteen years ago, at the age of 93, Anna took a fall in her bathroom that fractured her hip. She never recovered from the fall and died less than three weeks later. Not every case is as severe as Anna's, but as recently as 25 years ago little was known about the development of osteoporosis and how it might be prevented. You might say, "She lived a long life." And you would be right — she was able to live in her own home, unassisted, until the fall. But her family still wonders, in light of new research, if the fracture might have been prevented.