I broke down in the middle of nowhere on Memorial Day and was fortunate enough to get a ride to town from a cyclist who told me of a Cyclist/Physician in Iowa who at the age of 51 has the bone density of a man in his 70’s. He also told me of a study of conducted on elite cyclists, all of whom show significant bone density loss.
I was alarmed by this and found the article when I got home; here it is.
I am 30 with the bone density of a 85 year old woman who never knew of a drink called Milk. It is tough as every crash is a broken this or that. Mine is caused by high cortisol levels preventing my bones from absorbing calcium.
Any time you have athletes at training at very high levels you are going to get a certain degree of endocrine dysfunction. Everyone is familiar with female athletes becoming amennorheic with excessive exercise… that is becuase of endocrine dysfunction. Incidentally those women are more prone to fractures.
With increased exercise, especially weight bearing exercise and stength training you are going to stimulate the bone cells (osteoclasts) which lay down new bone. This prevents osteoporosis.
Now if you are a elite athlete, for example a cyclist training at a very high level. You are probably trainign to the point that you are putting your body into a stressed state (extreme exercise is just like stress) releasing all sorts of hormones such as cortisol. which can be detrimental to your bones.
Now here is anothter thing to throw into the arena… ever wonder why overweight people almost never get osteoporotic? Its cause they are fat adn the extra weight stimulates their bones to make new bone. Ever look at a cyclist… not exactly zoftig.
Now combine all of that with the fact that cyclist do not weight bear during exercise like a runner does you lose that extra stimulus to increase bone growth. Even though you have the bone building stimulus of larger muscle.
Now what does that all mean? Just becuase you cycle does not mean you will become osteoporotic, or for that matter if does not mean that you will damage your bones. Chances are you are only going to good things to your bones. If you are training at a very high level and especially if you have a family history of osteoporosis it may be worth it to get a DEXA scan. It is pretty easy to get these covered by insurance. (insurance will cover this once every two years) Be sure to get a DEXA scan… the ones you do at the mall are not very good. Also go ahead at supplement your calcium (with vitD) if you have a problem with swallowing those horse pills try viactiv chews (amazingly pretty tasty) the only disadvantage being the higher amount of fat in them…
I also don’t think this as great of an issue for triathletes who also run…
Oh and if you smoke cigarettes this would be a good reason to stop smoking
It’s very interesting to hear a professional opinion on this study.
I’m definitely leary of Diet Coke now, I never thought I would be a “Diet Coke” drinker.
This topic is in the same vein as the article in June’s IT on the long term effects of triathlon.
It mentions the early heart attack deaths of Brian Maxwell (of PowerBar Fame), Mark Heinemann, Jim Fixx, and Ed Burke.
It would seem that there is a very real boundary beyond which we negatively impact our health and longevity with endurance sports. In my opinion Ironman distance events push that boundary. But who really KNOWS? Just something to think about anyway.
I recommend the article almost as a sort of disclaimer.
Suden death in athletes is almost always due to structural heart disease… most often hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. But there are a host of other cardiac abnormalities that can kill. The thing about Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is that strenuous exercise brings about the arrythmia that kills you.
in addition to the list of peole you named, Hank Gathers, Victor Petrenko
If you don’t have cardiac abnormalities you are only doing good for your body… (up to a certain point)
I do agree that there are interesting things that start to develop when you hit these ultra endurance events like Ironman you definately push the boundaries of human physiology.
Obviously there is likely some truth to this in a small minority of extreme cases but a lot more research is needed. I’d doubt if it much effects the average AG trigeek or roadie. So let’s not panic.
Rememeber all the media hype a few years ago when cycling made riders impotent?