Have you ever bothered about your bones? If you are a woman over 30, you better do. For four out of every 10 Calcuttans, they are threatening to become a brittle bother.

Such is the finding of Arthritis Foundation of India (AFI) which, along with Britannia New Zealand Foods, has been conducting free bone density tests across the city since November, in malls and residential estates.

?This is the first time that such tests are being done on healthy people,? said Dr Gautam Saha, the AFI city coordinator. ?Normally, only after people break a bone or suffer from chronic pain due to a microfracture do they go for tests. Then, it is too late, as osteoporosis is more preventable than treatable.?

The AFI is trying to create awareness so that people wake up to the need for extra calcium once they step into the 30s. The World Health Organisation has recommended an intake of 1000 mg calcium daily to counter osteoporosis. Post-menopausal women are more prone to it. ?Calcium is an integral part of the bone. Once the resorption rate for bones becomes much faster than formation, the calcium, too, gets washed out and the bones become brittle,? Saha explained.

At a camp held last Saturday at Metro Plaza, the queue comprised youngsters as well as the elderly. After all, age-induced calcium deficiency is not the only factor that puts the bones at risk. ?Drugs and tobacco are also threats. Certain diseases like asthma are treated with steroids. These may lead to drug-induced osteoporosis,?confirmed Dr Sumit Saha, who was supervising the tests.

Both shoppers and mall employees made the most of the opportunity, though few had any idea about bone density. Munawar Azam from Patna was biding time before catching a train at Howrah; Pushpit Roy Chowdhury was visiting a friend at the mall. For one, it meant a free health check-up; a pain in the ankle was worrying the other. Kamlesh Arora of Park Circus was a casual shopper but she had a clearer idea of the threat. ?My sister-in-law has such stiff joints that she can?t move. I already have spondylitis. So, I want to get this test done to find out how bad things are,? the elderly woman stated.

Both doctors, though, pointed out that the ultrasound method of bone densitometry being followed at the camp was not conclusive and a dexascan was being recommended for every osteopenic on the borderline of osteoporosis. ?But it is an indicator. And the findings are such that if people do not take care, osteopenia might outstrip cardiac attacks in Calcutta,? said Sudipto Sengupta, consultant to Britannia New Zealand.

And the city?s young men better watch out. Due to high smoking and drinking habits, they are more prone to osteopenia than their counterparts elsewhere, Sengupta warned.