Children and Osteoporosis

Can children get osteoporosis?

I think it's very, very, very rare for children to get osteoporosis. Certain leukemias can be associated with juvenile osteoporosis, lymphomas and things like that. Primarily, it's a disease of older people, people over 50. Certain groups in their 30s and 40s, if they're on steroids, can have issues, but it's really a disease with older people. But, the trick with children is to assure that they have the opportunity to build the skeleton that their genetics endows them with. I don't know whether we're able to say today that type 2 diabetes in children is likely to be associated with diabetes as they age. But, if you're a type 2 diabetic as a kid, it means that your nutrition is all fouled up, you're overweight, you're not active. Being overweight, with the wrong nutrients, not being physically active, I would suspect, will impact on your ability to build a strong, healthy skeleton. So in that sense, I think there is a real possibility that of the many, many problems associated with childhood obesity, it could well turn out that this is one more that might result, but I don't think we know that answer.