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Bone mineral density

Your bones are living tissue, and you are rebuilding them right now

Your body removes old bone and replaces it with new bone, your whole life long. Until your late twenties you build faster than you lose. After that the balance shifts: quietly, and without anything you can feel.

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Stylized DEXA image of the pelvis, hips and lower spine, the bones highlighted in ivory.
  • Bone mineral densityYou cannot see or feel it. A DEXA measures it.

Why bone loss is silent

How much bone you build early in life, and how well you hold on to it later, together decide the reserve you carry into old age. Unlike losing strength, you cannot feel your bones getting weaker.

Drawing of the hip and thigh bone, with a magnified circle comparing healthy bone, with a dense structure, to bone with low density, thinner and more porous.
Healthy boneStronger, denser structure
Low bone densityThinner, more porous structure

Why bone health matters

  • Lower risk of fracturesStronger bones reduce the risk of fractures, especially at the hip, spine and wrist.
  • Supports mobilityHealthy bones help you stay active and independent as you age.
  • Associated with longer, healthier livesHigher bone mineral density is linked to a lower risk of mortality.
  • Maintains postureStrong bones support your body structure and help prevent height loss and a stooped posture.

Bone and muscle work together

  • Strong bonesStrong enough to survive a fall, and they help protect against fractures.
  • Strong musclesThe strength, balance and stability that help prevent a fall.
  • Your physical reserveTogether they let you keep doing what you enjoy.

Muscle contractions, particularly when stimulated by resistance training, also load the bone, and that load is itself part of what keeps it strong.

Why we lose bone

Bone is constantly broken down and rebuilt, and with age that balance tips towards loss. In women the process can accelerate around menopause, as oestrogen declines. Men lose bone gradually too.

But bone also answers to how you use your body. Resistance training and weight-bearing activity are a stimulus that helps maintain strength, and nutrition matters as well.

Often the first sign is a fracture

As density falls, bone gradually becomes less able to resist a fracture. At the far end of that process sit osteopenia and osteoporosis, which usually develop without symptoms.

From the literature

Three findings worth knowing

1 in 2 women · 1 in 3 menFractures become surprisingly common as we age.

From age 50, the estimated lifetime risk of experiencing a fracture is roughly one in two for women and one in three for men.

Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation (opens in a new tab)
1 in 4A hip fracture can have major consequences later in life.

In a large Dutch study of more than 74,000 hip-fracture patients aged 70 and over, approximately one in four died within a year of the fracture.

Dutch cohort study, PMC (opens in a new tab)
More than 1 in 2Low bone density is common long before a fracture happens.

In a nationally representative US population study, more than half of adults aged 50 and over had low bone mass when measured with DEXA.

CDC / NCHS Data Brief (opens in a new tab)

What contributes to bone loss

  • A woman in her fifties beside a curve of falling oestrogen levels and two pieces of bone, the second more porous.

    Menopause and hormones

    Oestrogen helps protect bone. As it declines, there can be more breakdown than formation.

  • Someone sitting on the sofa with a remote control, with icons for less mechanical load and smoking.

    Inactivity and smoking

    Load is part of what keeps bone strong. Inactivity and smoking both contribute to bone loss.

  • A hand holding a GLP-1 injection pen, with icons for lower nutrient intake, reduced absorption and other conditions.

    Medication and conditions

    Some medications (including GLP-1 medication) and a range of conditions can contribute.

What helps: resistance training, weight-bearing activity and nutrition.

For many people a broken bone is the first sign that bone health is slipping.

Why measure it

A major fracture can limit your ability to walk, exercise, travel or live independently. Periods of reduced mobility come at a cost: muscle strength declines, fitness decreases and everyday activities become harder. For someone with less physical reserve to begin with, recovery can be especially challenging.

You cannot see or feel your bone density. At Vitary, we currently measure whole-body bone mineral density (BMD), which can help track changes over time, including in response to exercise, nutrition and other interventions aimed at supporting bone health.

Coming soon: Dedicated hip and lumbar spine BMD assessments to provide a clinically established evaluation of bone density.

Measure. Understand. Optimize your health.

Start with a few questions to see whether a DEXA scan is right for you. A registered physician reviews your answers before your visit. If a scan is appropriate, we measure your visceral fat, muscle mass and bone health, walk you through your results and show you where you can make the greatest impact.

Launch offer €199, until 31 December, then €299.all-inNo referral neededSee if a DEXA scan is right for you