( Seven beauty queens from four continent...)Beauty queens urge girls not to sacrifice their bones

The women, from Australia, Austria, Panama, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela, were speaking at "IOF Beauties and the Bones", an event organized by International Osteoporosis Foundation - IOF.

Speaking movingly of their own experiences, the women, who won their titles between 1972 and 2003, noted that many pre-teenage and teenage girls worldwide have an obsession with beauty at the expense of health. The beauty queens pointed out that the standard of beauty, even for beauty queens, is changing. They urged women and men of all ages to take responsibility for their bone health, to recognize that while beauty is partly physical it is also made up of inner beauty that includes respecting one's health and behavior.

Medical specialists from IOF noted that with Asia's aging population, it is expected that the burden of osteoporosis will increase dramatically if no preventive action is taken.

Dr Khunying Kobchitt, president of the IOF member society Thailand Osteoporosis Foundation, and professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand remarked that osteoporosis is already a huge health problem in Asia, and getting more serious every day- in 45 years (by 2050), one out of every two fractures in the world will occur in Asia. All women and men should take immediate action to review their life styles and take the IOF One Minute Osteoporosis Risk Test.

Maximum bone development takes place in girls and boys roughly between ages 11-17. By building peak bone mass during this period, young people "invest in their bones" and reduce the risk of fracture later in life, noted Professor Ghassan Maalouf, an IOF Board member from Lebanon who spoke about the importance of proper diet (including adequate calcium and vitamin D),
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Source:International Osteoporosis Foundation