Manage Your Weight Now, and You May Avoid Hip Problems Later
Hip replacement may not be on your radar screen yet. But it’s never too soon to protect your vulnerable joints by keeping your weight in check. A recent study in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism found that women who were obese before the age of 25 were almost three times likelier than thin women to eventually require a hip replacement for severe arthritis. In fact, excess weight at a young age predicted a woman’s eventual need for a hip replacement even more than being overweight at age 55 or older, when joint replacements become more common. The authors speculated that hip-joint cartilage may be more subject to the effects of excess weight in early life.
Women, Weight, and Arthritis
About two out of three adults diagnosed with arthritis are overweight or obese. Indeed, obesity is one of the major risk factors for this joint-crippling disease, which affects about one-and-a-half times as many women as men.Unfortunately, in every age group, women are likelier than men to be overweight or obese. And today’s adults are gaining extra weight at younger ages. A recent study in the American Journal of Public Health found that women and men ages 25 to 44 generally were currently as overweight as their parents were when their parents were 10 to 20 years older.
Get Your Fill of Vitamin K, Too
In addition to obesity, what you eat also may be a key, suggests a recent study of women and men published in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. In this study, people with low blood levels of vitamin K had more osteoarthritis in their hands and knees than those with higher vitamin K levels.To add more vitamin K to your diet, eat more kale, spinach, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, lettuce, and greens.
