Effect of Long-term Corticosteroid Use on Bone Mineral Density in Children
This study look at the use of chronic and short burst use of inhaled steroids in children w/ mild to moderate asthma. Frighteningly, this pattern of use was associated with reduction in bone mineral accrual at a very important time of there bone forming years.
I guess the frustrating aspects of this study is that asthma treatment in children rarely takes a comprehensive course. You can bet that, in many of these children, both food allergies and poor gut health are contributing if not causative factors. Prolonged courses of antibiotics without any thought of the importance of normal, healthy flora, will lead to imbalances of immune function and Th2 dominance of cytokine expression (consistent w/ asthma and allergies).
Add into this nasty mix the new research that gut inflammation negatively impacts bone health and you’ve got a recipe for diminished bone health.
