Why You Need a DEXA Scan
What is a DEXA scan used for?
Both body composition and bone density DEXA scans are available at the Pritikin Longevity Center as part of their extensive physician services and medical program. A DEXA body composition scan helps you finally ditch your weigh scale. Scales only offer highly discouraging numbers – they are not helpful indicators of your accomplishments to make your body healthier. A bone density scan offers you and your physician detailed information about the health of your bones, and what you can do to keep them healthy.
Who should have a DEXA scan?
A DEXA body composition scan can be very motivating! Too often, people measure their success by the number of pounds they have lost. Weight loss is not always advantageous, and when has a scale ever been a great motivator? Ditch the scale and focus on body composition instead. A DEXA body composition scan calculates how much lean muscle and fat your body has. Since Pritikin teaches you how to lose fat and gain muscle, the scale will not be a helpful indicator of your progress (muscle weighs more than fat). That muscle creates a leaner, fitter and more toned body. That’s a body worth craving! Get motivated with a DEXA body composition scan, one of the many additional medical services available for purchase to guests at the Pritikin Longevity Center. For those guests who return to Pritikin within one year, a free follow-up DEXA scan is provided – it’s a great way to see the extraordinary effects of the Pritikin Program on your body.
What does a DEXA scan diagnose?
A DEXA bone density scan helps you see your bone composition. Your bones could be unhealthy and you won’t know it. Osteoporosis is called the silent disease because it has no symptoms. Osteoporosis causes increased bone fragility and is the most common bone disease seen in all age groups, genders and races. At greatest risk of osteoporosis are older, Caucasian females with 1 in 3 over the age of 50 experiencing osteoporotic fractures worldwide. Men are also at risk with 1 in 5 experiencing fractures, according to the International Osteoporosis Foundation. With a DEXA bone density scan, an advanced assessment of your bone strength, you and your physician can take steps to treat the disease before you are at risk of a life-altering fracture.
Osteoporosis treatment
Can a person be cured of osteoporosis? There are medications and lifestyle changes to help slow the progression of bone loss. A healthy lifestyle, such as that taught at Pritikin, shows you how you can build strong bones naturally. A bone healthy diet is one that focuses on enhancing calcium absorption. Avoiding salt is important as it enhances calcium excretion in the urine. Eating processed sugar is also a problem for bone health. According to recent research, sugar increases inflammation, hyperinsulinemia, increased renal acid load, reduced calcium intake and increased urinary calcium excretion. For optimal bone health, focus on whole foods, such as vegetables, beans, whole grains and fruits, and avoid eating processed foods which contain added sugar and salt.
Fully Understand Your Health
A wellness vacation at the Pritikin Longevity Center includes visits with board certified physicians who take time to help you properly understand your health. Additional medical services are available to help you take your understanding of your health further include:
DEXA body composition scan
- Highly motivating information about the true composition of your body.
DEXA bone scan
- Discover details about the health of your bones so you can prevent them from breaking.
Heart and circulation testing
- Detect early signs of cardiovascular disease and prevent disease before it hurts you.
- Sleep disorder evaluation and treatment
- In the comfort of your luxurious resort room discover why your sleep is disturbed.
- Biomechanical and musculoskeletal evaluation
- If joint pain is holding you back, discover how you can get rid of it.
References]
- An overview and management of osteoporosis. Eur J Rheumatol 2017 Mar; 4(1):46-56.
- Not salt but sugar as aetiological in osteoporosis: a review. Mo Med 2018 May-Jun; 115(3): 247-252.