ASBMR: Kids Gain Bone Mass, Size from Exercise

Which can help in the prevention of osteoporosis when they get older.

For children ages 7 and 8, intensive physical exercise in school leads to increases in bone mass and size, a Swedish researcher said here...

On average, compared with the control group, the intervention group had yearly gains of:

0.6 standard deviations in bone mineral content at the lumbar spine in both girls and boys (P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively)
0.5 standard deviations in bone mineral content at the trochanter in girls (P<0.01)
0.5 standard deviations in width at the femoral neck in girls and 0.3 standard deviations in boys (P<0.05 for both)
0.5 standard deviations in width at the third lumbar vertebra in girls (P<0.05)

In the long run, Lofgren told MedPage Today, "it's even more important that they will perhaps have greater peak bone mass when they are 25 or 30."

The bottom line of the study is that "there is no downside to physical activity" for young children, said Clifford Rosen, MD, of Maine Medical Center in Portland, who moderated a session at which the study was presented.

"The concern was that if you over-exercise young prepubertal individuals, you might actually increase the risk of fracture" because of falls and other accidents, Rosen told MedPage Today, adding that several studies have shown exercise increases bone strength in youngsters.

But few, he said, have looked at the risk-benefit ratio in children, and it's reassuring that the Swedish study showed no increase in fracture risk.

Yep.

BTW, note "intensive physical exercise."

Gotta train to gain.