Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a progressive disease in which the bones gradually become weaker and weaker, causing changes in posture and making the individual extremely susceptible to bone fracture. The term osteoporosis, derived from Latin, literally means “porous bones”. Because of the physiological, nutritional, and hormonal difference between males and females, osteoporosis affects many more women than men. However, men also suffer from bone loss, often as a side effect of certain medications, such as chemotherapy drugs, thyroid hormone, corticosteroids, and anticonvulsants, or as a result of other illnesses.

About half of all women between the ages of forty-five and seventy-five show signs of some degree of osteopenia (low bone mass) or osteoporosis. Bone is at its strongest when a person is around age thirty, and thereafter begins to decline. In women, this decline begins to accelerate at menopause. If you have not accumulated sufficient bone mass durin those formative times in childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, or if you lose it too quickly in later years, you are at increased risk of osteoporosis. Many people have the impression that osteoporosis is caused solely by a dietary calcium deficiency and that it therefore can be remedied by taking calcium supplements. This is not quite correct. It is the way calcium is absorbed and used by the body that seems to be the important factor, not necessarily the amount of calcium consumed. Also, the type of calcium consumed is important.

There are three basic types of osteoporosis. Type I is believed to be caused by hormonal changes, particularly a loss of estrogen, which causes the loss of minerals from the bones to accelerate. Type II is linked to dietary deficiency, especially a lack of sufficient calcium and of vitamin D, which is necessary for the absorption of calcium. Type III occurs in men and women at any age and is caused by drug treatment for other illnesses or other diseases unconnected with osteoporosis.