When the bones lose their density, become more brittle because of the loss of minerals (mostly calcium), and have an increasingly greater tendency to break, we call the condition osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is the most common skeletal disorder in the world, affecting nearly 20 million Americans - eight times as many women as men and each year contributing to more than 80 percent of the two million fractures of the elderly and nearly all of the 200,000 hip fractures of women over the age of 50. Contrary to popular belief a fall is not the cause of all the fractures; in many cases it's the fracture that causes the fall. The complications of hip fractures are one of the primary causes of death in older women.

Symptoms of Osteoporosis

Initially, osteoporosis has no symptoms. But after the condition has progressed, the signs may include "dowager's hump." loss of height, abdominal protrusion, frequent fractures, and sudden back pain (which is often caused by vertebral compression fractures.) Back pain is worse when the person afflicted with it is sitting or standing and is relieved by lying down. Coughing, sneezing, and straining to move the bowels can cause terrible pain.

High Risk Types

Osteoporosis seems to affect certain women more than others. The most often affected are underweight or small boned women; Caucasian and Asian women; and women experiencing either early natural menopause or a hysterectomy with ovaries removed before menopause. Other contributing factors are a sedentary lifestyle; smoking, high caffeine or alchohol intake; a diet deficicient in calcium, vitamin C, or protein; and certain medications. However, some researchers feel that calcium figures less in bone loss than other substances such as magnesium and HCL (hydrocholoric acid).

Diet and Exercise

Vegetarians have stronger, denseer bones than meat eaters and lose less bone density as they age. In one study the bone density of vegetarians in their seventies was higher than that of meat eaters in their fifties. Red meat is rich in phosphorous, and a diet that has more phosphorus than calcium can create a calcium loss. Phosphorus is a major component of processed foods, including white bread and cola drinks, and certain foods such as potatoes and meat. Excess salt in the diet can also cause the loss of calcium.

Hysterectomy/Medications/Caffeine

Although osteoporosis affects only 25 percent of women after natural menopause. It occurs in 80 percent of women after a surgical menopause, or hysterectomy. This is a strong reason for seeking a second and third opinion when a hysterectomy is recommended.

Long term use of heparin, methotrexate, many hormone therapies (such as cortisone), some anticonvulsants (phentoin and barbiturates), and heavy metals that interfere with the body chemistry, can all cause loss of bone density or osteoporosis.

Heavy caffeine consumption may increase the risk of osteoporosis. Volunteers in a study who drank more than two and a half to three cups of caffeinated coffee daily, or twice that much tea, experienced a 69 percent greater risk of osteoporosis than did those who abstained form caffeine. those drinking more than three and a half cups of coffee or seven cups of tea appear to have increased their risk by 82 percent. In animal studies caffeine has been found to increase urinary calcium excretion.

Other Causes of Osteoporosis

there are a number of endocrine abnormalities that may cause osteoporosis, especially in the young or middle aged. These include an overactive thyroid or parathyroid; overactive adrenals; chronic illnesses that cause prolinged bedrest; malnutrition, including anorexia nervosa, and bone marrow tumors, such as multiple myetoma.

The Medical Approach

The standard medical approach to osteoporosis is limited. According to one researcher; "True reversal of osteoporosis has been proven unobtainable by conventional methods.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy

Estrogen replacement therapy (ERT), utilizing small doses of estrogen, may beeffective in slowing the rate of bone breakdown. However, it cannot create bone renewal, and it may carry such serious long term effects as an increased risk of breast cancer.

Flouride Treatments

Though fluoride treatment for osteoporosis has had its supporters, this form of treatment is regarded by many as less than useless. A letter in Chemical and Engineering news, July 30, 1990, is headed, "Hip fractures tied ot fluoridation, poverty." The letter goes on to say;

This long held delusion that fluoride will be a safe effective and marketable treatment for osteoporosis concerns me... The denser bone that eventually develops in the spine after several years of fluoride medicaiton is actually not normal bone, but it is disordered and lacks tensile strength. Studies have shown that fluoride actually makes the bones more susceptible to fracture!