Changes in astronaut bones and muscles are very interesting to scientists and doctors. The study of bones and muscles in space may one day help us understand bone and muscle diseases on Earth to try to keep them from happening. By studying astronauts, scientists have learned more about one disease of the bones called osteoporosis (ah stee oh pour oh sis). In osteoporosis, bones become thin and break easily. Older people, especially older women, can get osteoporosis when they do not exercise enough or eat enough foods with calcium. You are less likely to get osteoporosis if you build up enough calcium in our bones at a young age, from childhood to teenage years, and keep exercising and eating right when you get older.

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