Chinese-Am Women have strong bones pre-menopause

A recent study done by the Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Medical Center showed that Chinese-American woman boasts far greater bone strength than their Caucasian counterparts.

A team of researchers analyzed the bone structures of Chinese-American women and Caucasian women through a groundbreaking 3-D imaging technology developed at Columbia engineering. Individual Trabeculae Segmentation (ITS) is used to examine the microstructure and strength of the trabecular, or spongy bone, one of the two types of tissue that form bone (the other is cortical, or compact bone), according to the release.

“We found in this research that Chinese-American women do not have the same risk of fracture as Caucasian women due to the plate- like structure of their bone, which offers mechanical advantages over the rod-like structure found in the bones of Caucasian women, ” said lead researcher X. Edward Guo, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“The major differences between Chinese-American women and Caucasian women elucidated in this paper may eventually help us understand the mechanisms by which hormones and other factors control skeletal microstructure,” said John P. Bilezikian, Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology at the school.