Smokers! your bones are getting weaker

By Tooba Altaf Jul 30th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Smoking is the cause of osteoporosis and bone fractures, it has been discovered years ago.

But a new study, dedicated to find out how it affects the bones, has found out the real process.

The report is published in the journal of ACS’ journal of Proteome Research and highlights how cigarette smoke weakens the bones.

Gary Guishan Xiao and colleagues found out that smoking trigger the excessive production of two proteins which starts a natural process in the body that breaks down the bones naturally.

Smoking mess with two natural processes of body, one is “osteoblasts”, cells which build new bones and the other is “osteoclasts”, cells which break down old bones in the body.

Osteoporosis, weakening of the bones, increases the risk of fractures and can become the cause of major disability.

This study included an analysis of the genetic activity in bone marrow cells of smokers and non smokers. And the result showed excessive production of two proteins in smokers that interfere with the process of “osteoclasts”. Experiments with laboratory mice also reaffirmed the findings.