Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Say the Future Looks Bleak For Our Bones
HughPickens.com writes Nicholas St. Fluer reports at The Atlantic that according to researchers, our convenient, sedentary way of life is making our bones weak foretelling a future with increasing fractures, breaks, and osteoporosis. For thousands of years, hunter-gatherers trekked on strenuous ventures for food with dense skeletons supporting their movements and a new study pinpoints the origin of weaker bones at the beginning of the Holocene epoch roughly 12,000 years ago, when humans began adopting agriculture. "Modern human skeletons have shifted quite recently towards lighter—more fragile, if you like—bodies. It started when we adopted agriculture. Our diets changed. Our levels of activity changed," says Habiba Chirchir. A second study attributes joint bone weakness to different levels of physical activity in ancient human societies, also related to hunting versus farming.
The team scanned circular cross-sections of seven bones in the upper and lower limb joints in chimpanzees, Bornean orangutans and baboons. They also scanned the same bones in modern and early modern humans as well as Neanderthals, Paranthropus robustus, Australopithecus africanus and other Australopithecines. They then measured the amount of white bone in the scans against the total area to find the trabecular bone density. Crunching the numbers confirmed their visual suspicions. Modern humans had 50 to 75 percent less dense trabecular bone than chimpanzees, and some hominins had bones that were twice as dense compared to those in modern humans. Both studies have implications for modern human health and the importance of physical activity to bone strength. "The lightly-built skeleton of modern humans has a direct and important impact on bone strength and stiffness," says Tim Ryan. That's because lightness can translate to weakness—more broken bones and a higher incidence of osteoporosis and age-related bone loss. The researchers warn that with the deskbound lives that many people lead today, our bones may have become even more brittle than ever before. "We are not challenging our bones with enough loading," says Colin Shaw, "predisposing us to have weaker bones so that, as we age, situations arise where bones are breaking when, previously, they would not have."
The team scanned circular cross-sections of seven bones in the upper and lower limb joints in chimpanzees, Bornean orangutans and baboons. They also scanned the same bones in modern and early modern humans as well as Neanderthals, Paranthropus robustus, Australopithecus africanus and other Australopithecines. They then measured the amount of white bone in the scans against the total area to find the trabecular bone density. Crunching the numbers confirmed their visual suspicions. Modern humans had 50 to 75 percent less dense trabecular bone than chimpanzees, and some hominins had bones that were twice as dense compared to those in modern humans. Both studies have implications for modern human health and the importance of physical activity to bone strength. "The lightly-built skeleton of modern humans has a direct and important impact on bone strength and stiffness," says Tim Ryan. That's because lightness can translate to weakness—more broken bones and a higher incidence of osteoporosis and age-related bone loss. The researchers warn that with the deskbound lives that many people lead today, our bones may have become even more brittle than ever before. "We are not challenging our bones with enough loading," says Colin Shaw, "predisposing us to have weaker bones so that, as we age, situations arise where bones are breaking when, previously, they would not have."
Yeah, because being a farmer is such a cushy gig.
... what we get in weaker bones, we get in more refined minds (aka sitting and reading, researching, etc). Now some may laugh at this idea in the modern era, but you have to remember you only have so much time and energy as an organism. It'd be interesting to know whether bones needing lower maintenance/energy has some pro's instead of just cons.
Have gnu, will travel.
Use multi-joint barbell exercises like squats and deadlifts. They build bone density and stave off the effects of osteoporosis.
Seriously? You are suggesting weight training to Slashdotters? Well, I suppose they could order the weights on-line and have them delivered to the basement, but could mom carry them down the stairs?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
3D printed replacement skeletons to the rescue! Installation is a bitch, but you only have to do it once.
you have stereotypes that may not stand up to reality. Plenty of slashdotters and IT geeks exercise. Even more important than the weight training is cardiovascular health: power walk, jog, run, or swim, etc.
Maybe the added weigh of obesity, will cause more force on our bones and compensate for the lack of it by moving less.
I refuse to believe this nonsense. Since this type of doom and fear mongering has been going on now for many years now. It never comes true and it never is going to come true. If doom is going to happen, it is going to happen and nothing can be done about it and I am not sure if scientist are going to be the first one to know about or figure out what to do about it once the time comes, if it ever comes to start with. Since the human race has the chance of surviving as a species for the next 500 million years (with minor evolutionary changes in the process).
The older humans lived 20 - 30 years MAX. The new humans live to 70 - 100 so there is pleanty of time for the new humans to break or splinter the old bones. The older humans didn't live long enough or stress the older bones nearly as much.
If we infuse our bones with adamantium, we get stronger bones *and* neato claws.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Right! Half the people in my club are somewhat geeks, bodybuilding is as important to me as coding and electronics. ;-)
....Oh, oops, I thought it said BONERS.
What were they thinking, trading slightly more fragile bones for longer life spans, less dangerous lifestyles, philosophy, sanitation, modern medicine, equal rights, going to the moon, labor saving devices, the internet, quantum physics, cell phones, the internal combustion engine, and digital watches?
We are not challenging our bones with enough loading,
I do. That's why I still use a Compaq Portable for my "laptop". It weighs about 28 lbs. (Joking aside, I actually had one of these - or something really, really similar - at the first company I worked for in the late 1980s.)
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It is amazing how researchers are able to ignore results from other fields. We know that bone density is not a good predictor for fractures. On the other hand, we know that dairy product consumption is correlated with higher density and fractures.
There is no consensus on how to explain that, but one interesting theory is that dairy products promote bone metabolism (hence the higher density) up to renewal exhaustion (hence the fractures).
Classic nerds vs. geeks. Nerds are happy to be sacks of goo because exercise is not interesting to them. For geeks, everything is an optimization problem - the meatsuit gets no pass.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Modern human skeletons have shifted quite recently towards lighter—more fragile, if you like—bodies.
Sweet! Maybe we will also start evolving wings and finally be able to fly without manufactured air foils! I for one intend to sit on the couch more and make this happen faster!
If humans could fly, we'd consider it exercise and never do it.
-- origin unknown
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
...those 16oz wrist curls and refrigerator door pulls (to get 1 nacho at a time) I've described before will soon take effect. It's all about intensity.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
As I understand it the lessened gravity is what causes bone density loss. The mechanism I saw argued once is supposedly that the apatite crystals in bone are somewhat piezoelectric, and that mechanical stress is 'detected' by the cells via the slight amounts of electricity that are generated in the bone during stress. This triggers the cells to increase bone density, and strength. It would explain why electrical stimulation of bone works, and apparently ultrasonic stimulation also works.
So it really doesn't come down to exercise, rather we can just sit in an ultrasonic recliner (maybe a bath?), and take some calcium pills.
I art more snarky, and terse than thou. I art Slashdot!
... what we get in weaker bones, we get in more refined minds ...
There are a lot of evolutionary trade offs, but weaker bones and refined minds are the two things that do not trade off against each others
A refined mind (for example, such as the one in Homo Sapiens Sapiens) consumes 20% - 25% of the total energy intake of the individual
To obtain a more refined mind one does not need to make one's bone "weaker" --- on the other hand, supercharging the intake process, for example, eating meat instead of digesting straws --- can supply the additional "energy consumption" that a refined mind needs
If there is one trade off for weaker bones is that we humans are becoming better swimmers
As our bones become weaker, our bones become lighter, and lighter folks can float/swim more easily in the water
It is thus no surprise that the vast majority of those who have won Olympic swimming gold medal are mostly from the Caucasoid tribe --- for the Caucasoids have (relatively speaking) the lightest bones among all the humans
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Clearly this study was written by someone who doesn't actually do agriculture in traditional ways as it has been done for the past tens of thousands of years. Farming, be it planting or herding, is not a cushy job. It's hard, vigorous work. I farm. I have dense bones as shown by X-rays I've had. I've also broken a lot of bones. Farming is hard, vigorous work and sometimes we break bones, just like we did doing hunting and gathering too. And what may be really surprising to those sitting in the ivory towers is we don't need to go see a doctor for a mere broken bone. It heals. Old skeletons show this, not just human or even primate but even T-Rex.
The conclusion that bone density seemed to change about the time that the last ice age ended and humans became more adept at agriculture doesn't necessarily mean that there is a correlation and one caused the other. There could be many reasons or no reason at all. Not all changes are the result of environmental pressures, some are just random and if the change doesn't result in significant weakening of the ability to survive and reproduce then it might become widespread while not being an adaptive trait.
That was my thought too. I have trouble imagining that ancestral farming methods were any less strenuous and "bone-buliding" than even persistence hunting.
I've been reading a lot these days about correlations between the rise of agriculture (and the resulting high consumption of grains and carbohydrates) and worsened dental and overall health as well as shorter stature in humans.
I know that even with my own n=1 change in diet (from a "standard western diet" to a low-carb/high-fat) over the last year, my health, according to current "standard" markers" like BMI, A1C, fasting glucose, HDL/Triglyceride ratios, etc. has improved dramatically. The funny thing is, after this change in my diet, I'm just more energetic - I've never in my life had such a desire to just get out and be more active.
It's strange to me, but in the US, the focus in health is so strongly oriented towards keeping the heart healthy. But if you think about it, the heart is a fairly simple organ, being a pump. We can easily transplant it and even make artificial ones. I've come to the conclusion that the focus in health should be on the liver - and that what keeps the liver healthy will keep the rest of me healthy. And liver health is most easily managed by what you put in your mouth.
Use multi-joint barbell exercises like squats and deadlifts. They build bone density and stave off the effects of osteoporosis.
Or just drink some milk for the calcium and go for long walks when you're in your teenage years (especially for females), and of course later as well.
You could add some wrist and ankle weights to enhance the effect, oh, and get some sun for the vitamin D.
Our bones don't have to be as strong as our ancestors were, they just have to be strong enough to get us through our lifetimes without breaking down.
"The strongest body-builder is not close to our ancestors, or to chimps, in strength."
While you have some good points the above is false. The strongest humans are stronger than the strongest chimps and stronger than our strongest ancestors on record. With a population of over 7 billion individuals to pick from and extreme training we have now produced some extraordinary physical specimens.
What chimps have is greater muscle density. If they were as large as our largest lifters and got the same training then they would probably be stronger. But they're not.
Superbugs, environmental destruction, weakening skeletons, and other assorted genetic 'artificial selection' weakening agents.
For the sake of our short term comforts have we doomed the human species to a genetic inferiority and environmental destruction that could appear to conform to the idea that the candle which burns twice as bright only burns half as long?
In the long term perspective, will the trades have been worth it?
Or it doesn't matter because the universe is far too large to make finding another home practical while this one will have its' oceans boiled away in a billion years?
If humans could fly, we'd consider it exercise and never do it.
-- origin unknown
Fuck that! If I could fly, I would be everywhere. Hercules would look like flabby sack of flesh compared to me. I would be doing loops, speed diving, flying to the tops of mountains, over volcanoes. I would have circled the planet itself a dozen times by now.
Flying would be AWESOME. Who cares if it is exercise?
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
Wow it seems like you have given this a lot of thought. You are not a bird, grow up.
Is there some aspect of my life that might be improved if I forgot my childhood dreams and flights of fancy? If so, I can not think of what might be improved. By all measures, I am quite successful at living life.
On the other hand, one has to wonder what motivated you to try and be critical... perhaps you are jealous of my freedom?
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
hits close to home is that my IT coworkers and myself are middle aged and we HAVE to exercise to avoid problems. In other departments there are near-cripples our age that can hardly get up or move around and their life is one of misery and pain. screw that.
The surfing, jiu-jitsu fighting, globetrotting etc. founder of my martial arts/crossfit club is a geek. The scoring system we use for competitions is something he cooked up in an afternoon. We also have an MMA fighter who's a banker and a surprisingly large amount of our members are university students. Psychology, medicine, and a couple of law students too.
Eat the rich.
I'm mostly into kettlebells and olympic lifting myself, but I'll definitely second the statement that the first couple of months are absolutely amazing. Your endorphin levels will be through the roof, it feels so good.
I've been branching out into trying some yoga/mobility classes as well. That shit is tough.
Eat the rich.