Exercise is one of the best thing you can do to fight off Osteoporosis.
But how does exercise strengthen your bones.
And what’s the best exercises for your bones.
That’s what researchers from the Aging Convergence Research Group wanted to understand.
They published their stunish results in Nature Communications.
The researchers focused on a signaling protein called cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1 (CLCF1), which your muscles release during exercise.
The team studied both people and mice.
In the human part, they recruited young and older adults and tested their blood for CLCF1 before and after different types of exercise.
The younger group did resistance and high-intensity interval training.
The older group did aerobic exercise (like treadmill walking) and a 12-week strength program with weights.
At the same time, researchers gave some aging mice injections of the CLCF1 protein to see how their bones responded.
Others had their CLCF1 blocked so scientists could see what happened without it.
Here’s what they found:
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1. Young adults saw CLCF1 levels rise after resistance and high-intensity training.
2. Physically active young adults had higher baseline levels of CLCF1 than inactive ones.
3. Older adults doing treadmill walking didn’t see a boost in CLCF1, even after several weeks.
4. However, older adults who engaged in strength training three times a week for 12 weeks demonstrated even more significant increase in CLCF1.
5. Mice that got CLCF1 injections had stronger, denser bones, even without exercise.
6. CLCF1 works by slowing down bone-destroying cells and boosting bone-building cells.
7. When researchers blocked CLCF1, those benefits vanished.
8. Older mice (like older people) didn’t release much CLCF1 during aerobic activity due to a missing helper protein needed to secrete it.
So, that settles it: if you’re over 50, weight training is one of the most effective things you can do to strengthen your bones.
It tells your muscles to release CLCF1, and CLCF1 tells your body to build bone.
Add moves like squats, lunges, push-ups, sit-ups, and lifting weights to your weekly routine to put this natural bone-builder to work.