Resources
Jump for Bones
Preventing Osteoporosis Begins Before You’re 12
The Short Window for Healthy Childhood Bone Formation
Without regular, vigorous activity, bone accumulation ceases by age 20 and begins to decline. The most important time for bone development is well before adolescence. During the young child's rapid growth spurts, 25-35% of all adult bone is formed. Therefore, the ingredients for healthy bone formation must be present during this time. In addition to calcium, potassium, vitamins D and K, the key formative requirement is jumping exercise.
Jump to Healthier Bones with GoZonkers
Every Episode has at least 1.5 minutes of jumping built into it
By using the programs 2x each day, Kids get the bone formation they need to reduce their risk of rickets and osteoporosis
Rickets and Osteoporosis
During the Depression, rickets (soft bones, characterized by permanent, pronounced bowed legs) afflicted hundreds of thousands of Kids. By the 50's rickets had disappeared due to vitamin D being added to milk.Today, children drink twice as much soft drinks as milk. This not only severely reduces their intake of much needed bone-forming calcium and vitamin D, soft drinks deplete the body's existing calcium stores. These factors, added to the lack of vigorous, bone-building exercise in Kids, has allowed rickets to reemerge after a 50 year absence.
With insufficient bone-building in preadolescence, girls are much more likely to get osteoporosis in their 40's, not in their 60's like their grandmothers.
Women, at-risk for osteoporosis, lose about 1% of their bone mass each year after menopause. Beginning with hip and other fractures that sap independence and mobility, osteoporosis is a major cause of death for women over 65. (Life expectancy after a hip fracture is one year.)
Jumping to Solutions
Jumping and other exercises that significantly stress bones cause them to adapt and strengthen. This type of exercise is critical for healthy bone formation in pre-adolescent children.
Groundbreaking research (external link) has shown that jumping just 1.5 minutes 2x a day can increase thigh bone density in Kids by over 2-3% in just eight months — every 1% increase gives one year or more protection from osteoporosis, and reduces the risk for rickets.
