ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993                   TAG: 9310210146
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-20   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

ADOLESCENCE IS CRITICAL IN PREVENTING BONE ILLS

The time to think about fighting osteoporosis, the bone-thinning malady common among older women, is when young girls are forming their adult bones, a new study suggests.

The study, published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, by researchers from Pennsylvania State University's medical center in Hershey found that girls ages 12 to 14 who took calcium supplements increased the rate of bone building by 20 percent.

Meanwhile, other studies suggest that an experimental compound, alendronate sodium, can help older women at risk of injury from bone-thinning.

The study, which included 188 women with an average age of 53, found that volunteers taking the compound as well as calcium supplements experienced significant increase in spinal bone density. But women taking calcium supplements and a placebo instead of the alendronate sodium experienced bone thinning, on average. - Chicago Tribune 


 by CNB