Social media brings bone health message to new generation

This year's World Osteoporosis Day (October 20) is urging the prevention of bone disease through healthy lifestyle choices. To get the message out that preventing osteoporosis begins at a young age, for the first time the World Osteoporosis Day campaign has turned to social media.

An online campaign (unbreakableembrace.org), called The Unbreakable Embrace, allows people to upload photos of themselves onto a Facebook application. Once uploaded, the images are automatically linked with others in a dynamic banner called the 'unbreakable embrace'.

Additionally, IOF will be streaming live video from eight official sites on World Osteoporosis Day – Dubai, Caracas, Geneva, Toronto, Washington, Sydney and Singapore. Each site will stream World Osteoporosis Day activities at 2.06 pm local time. This is to reflect that there are 206 bones in the human body.

"The Unbreakable Embrace campaign allows people from across the world to join together to raise awareness of the importance of bone health," says International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) CEO Patrice McKenney. "Osteoporosis is often viewed as an 'old persons' disease. The reality is that childhood and early adulthood are a person's peak bone producing years, so it's vitally important that young people know how to build strong bones."

"Social media platforms, such as Facebook, are a powerful medium to communicate that developing good dietary and exercise habits when young will help children to have strong, healthy bones throughout their lives."

It's estimated a 10 per cent increase of peak bone mass in children reduces the risk of an osteoporotic fracture during adult life by 50 per cent.

For World Osteoporosis Day the IOF will also issue an informative 24-page report called 'Three Steps to Unbreakable Bones: Calcium, Vitamin D and Exercise'.

To join the Unbreakable Embrace visit http://unbreakableembrace.org
More information on World Osteoporosis Day and the Unbreakable Embrace campaign visit http://www.worldosteoporosisday.org

Additional Information:

In girls, the bone tissue accumulated during the ages of 11 to 13 approximately equals the amount lost during the 30 years following menopause.
During puberty, bone mass in the spine and hip increases by approximately five times.
Research has shown children who engage in 40 minutes of normal vigorous activity each day have significantly stronger bones than their less active peers.

(Source: International Osteoporosis Foundation)

More information

For more information on osteoporosis, including its effect on bones and the importance of nutrition and dairy, as well as some useful videos and tools, see Osteoporosis.