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Evolutionary Aspects of Bone Health

Development in Early Human Populations

  • Chapter
Nutrition and Bone Health

Part of the book series: Nutrition and Health ((NH))

Abstract

The skeleton serves two primary functions: it provides biomechanical support and protection of soft tissue; and it plays a key role in mineral homeostasis. Skeletal health can be affected by a number of factors, including genetics, lifestyle, demographic characteristics, and disease. Skeletal size, strength, and structure can be affected by diet and physical activity, age, body size, ethnicity, and health status. In living persons, most of these factors can be assessed to some extent, and changes can be monitored in individuals over time. Techniques such as bone densitometry, assessment of biochemical markers of bone remodeling, radi-ography, bone biopsy, and others can be used in the assessment of skeletal status. In contrast, investigations of skeletal health in past populations are limited to var-ious physical characteristics that happen to be preserved at a moment in time for each individual specimen or local population.

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Authors
  1. Dorothy A. Nelson
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  2. Norman J. Sauer
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  3. Sabrina C. Agarwal
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Dermatology, Physiology, and Biophysics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Michael F. Holick PhD, MD

  2. Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA

    Bess Dawson-Hughes MD

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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Nelson, D.A., Sauer, N.J., Agarwal, S.C. (2004). Evolutionary Aspects of Bone Health. In: Holick, M.F., Dawson-Hughes, B. (eds) Nutrition and Bone Health. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-740-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-740-6_1

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61737-451-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-740-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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