Your step aerobics routine may have been a great way to improve your cardiovascular health and fitness, but now new research shows that it also can help you prevent osteoporosis.

Step aerobics can increase and maintain bone mineral density in women, thus preventing the onset of the disease, according to the study, which was published by the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Even moderate levels of aerobic exercise will help maintain an increased level of bone mineral density, researchers revealed. Although it originally was thought that only a relatively vigorous aerobic and strength training program would have this result, this latest study shows it is possible to maintain the increased bone mass with unsupervised, less-demanding aerobic and step classes.

In addition, the study re-affirmed the finding that increased intake of calcium and vitamins and high-impact exercise is beneficial to fending off bone mineral deterioration by building and maintaining an increased level of skeletal bone mass.

Conducted by the UKK Institute for Health Promotion Research in Finland, the study involved a total of 50 women who, over an 18-month period, participated in varying exercise regimens. A control group and a study group each maintained supervised high-impact training for the first 18 months. After that time, the women in the study group continued with an unsupervised training program, exercising on their own an average of twice a week by participating in step or aerobic classes.

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