What Every Woman Should Know About Osteoporosis

your these web pages are ery very informative. my mother have this problem of an age of 70+...we are living in india i m totally agree with Mel reslor's comments.her observation regarding asian , africans v/s europeans is absoutely correct. as we have been seeing that in our country India non veg. food is not been in vast practice on the ground of religious matter. while on other hand the poorest pocket of people uses green leafy vegetables and all segments of our country mostly uses green vegetables .yhey do not use too much dairy product and meat etc, so they get benefit of all this factors and consequetively posses lowe rate of osteporisis.

your these web pages are ery very informative. my mother have this problem of an age of 70+...we are living in india i m totally agree with Mel reslor's comments.her observation regarding asian , africans v/s europeans is absoutely correct. as we have been seeing that in our country India non veg. food is not been in vast practice on the ground of religious matter. while on other hand the poorest pocket of people uses green leafy vegetables and all segments of our country mostly uses green vegetables .yhey do not use too much dairy product and meat etc, so they get benefit of all this factors and consequetively posses lowe rate of osteporisis.

(Submitted by Linda White)
Your question brings up a good point. My article didn’t address treating osteoporosis, but rather preventing it with non-drug methods. I recommend you make an appointment to discuss your concerns about Fosamax with your doctor. Most treatments carry some kind of risk, and that rule can also apply to “natural” remedies. Estrogen is great for bones, but raises the risk of reproductive cancers and blood clots. Some of the drugs designed to mimic estrogen’s favorable effects on bone (but not its risky effects on, say, the breast) also have drawbacks. A new trial published in last week’s New England Journal of Medicine showed that one such drug, tibolone, decreased the risk of fracture, breast cancer, and possibly colon cancer in older women with osteoporosis, but doubled the risk for stroke. One thing to consider is that fracture is much more common in menopausal women than cancer, stroke or heart attack. As you know from your father and grandmother, a fractured hip can lead to permanent disability and even death. Like you, I look at my family history and am more concerned about osteoporosis and fracture than any other medical calamity (aside from dementia). If my doctor diagnosed me with osteoporosis, I would take a drug (after reading up on its efficacy and safety) and continue exercising, eating well, taking vitamin D and other recommended vitamins.

You might also ask your doctor to check your blood levels of a form of vitamin D called 25(OH)D. Doctors don’t routinely perform this test, but it’s the only way to know you’re deficient (and many people are deficient). If the level is low, then you need to take vitamin D to raise it into the ideal zone. Vitamin D researchers have recently come to the conclusion that we may need more vitamin D than previously thought. Some consider a blood level of around 70 nannograms/milliliter to be ideal.

Good luck.

Here is a recent article on vitamin D
http://www.motherearthnew

Can you direct me to solutions now that I have been diagnosed with osteoporosis - due to chemotherapy and early menopause - and I didn't get tested as early as I could have so it progressed. My father and his mother both fell and broke a hip then quickly deterioriated and died. I really don't want to go that way. I have been taking Fosamax but many people are not telling me that it's dangerous. Thanks

(From Linda White)
Thanks for the educated response about dairy and osteoporosis rates, and the link to the PCRM story. Given the word limit of the article, I didn’t have the space to talk about calcium contents (much less bioavailability) of various dietary sources. Yes, some ethnic groups are often lactose intolerant. And many plant sources contain calcium and other bone-essential nutrients. (Unfortunately, many Americans don’t consume many calcium-rich plants such as leafy greens.) And you need vitamin D (from sunlight, diet, supplements) to absorb the calcium you ingest. And you need to exercise to stimulate bones to take building blocks such calcium into new bone. Maximizing bone requires a multifaceted approach, and the best approach for one person may not suit another.

Dr. White's article is better than most on the subject of calcium and osteoporosis.
I would emphasize - Avoid the calcium robbers, the animal proteins (cow's milk and meat) they are high in sulfur amino acids and would take calcium out of the body. Milk is not a good source of calcium for building strong bones.

Increasing calcium intake does not necessarily prevent or delay osteoporosis.

The world-wide figures for calcium consumption give further evidence -
areas of low calcium intake 400 mg/day also have low osteoporosis and bone fracture rates Rural Africa and Asia fall into this category.
areas of high calcium intake 800-1200+ mg/day have some of the highest bone fractures and osteoporosis.
Europe, U.S. the industrialized nations fall into this category.
Asians, Africans are largely lactose intolerant (milk-sugar) and often avoid dairy products. They have the lowest osteoporosis rates in the world.
Scandanavians (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) have high rates of dairy consumption and can tolerate milk lactose. They have the highest osteoporosis rates in the world.

Jessie, who commented earlier, may actually be blessed. Refraining from cow's milk (which casein accounts for 80% of its protein) will prevent a major cause of calcium loss.
Cow's milk results in calcium loss as it takes more calcium to buffer the sulfur-amino acids to be removed from the body. Animal proteins are high in sulfur. Milk has a lot of calcium but with it is the protein that results in a net loss in terms of retained calcium.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has a good article on their site:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/strong_bones.html

- mel

Dr. White's article is better than most on the subject of calcium and osteoporosis.
I would emphasize - Avoid the calcium robbers, the animal proteins (cow's milk and meat) they are high in sulfur amino acids and would take calcium out of the body. Milk is not a good source of calcium for building strong bones.

Increasing calcium intake does not necessarily prevent or delay osteoporosis.

The world-wide figures for calcium consumption give further evidence -
areas of low calcium intake 400 mg/day also have low osteoporosis and bone fracture rates Rural Africa and Asia fall into this category.
areas of high calcium intake 800-1200+ mg/day have some of the highest bone fractures and osteoporosis.
Europe, U.S. the industrialized nations fall into this category.
Asians, Africans are largely lactose intolerant (milk-sugar) and often avoid dairy products. They have the lowest osteoporosis rates in the world.
Scandanavians (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark) have high rates of dairy consumption and can tolerate milk lactose. They have the highest osteoporosis rates in the world.

Jessie, who commented earlier, may actually be blessed. Refraining from cow's milk (which casein accounts for 80% of its protein) will prevent a major cause of calcium loss.
Cow's milk results in calcium loss as it takes more calcium to buffer the sulfur-amino acids to be removed from the body. Animal proteins are high in sulfur. Milk has a lot of calcium but with it is the protein that results in a net loss in terms of retained calcium.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has a good article on their site:
http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/strong_bones.html

- mel

(Posted for Linda White)
The effect of progestogen on bone is controversial. Some studies show a bone-building action, others show no effect. Estrogen prevents bone from being broken down. It’s precipitous drop during perimenopause leads to a brisk loss in bone mineral density. (Progesterone declines earlier than estrogen, but without the dramatic impact on women’s bones.) Testosterone stimulates bone formation. This hormone declines gradually in both sexes. Other hormones are involved in bone metabolism, including growth hormone, thyroid hormone, parathyroid hormone, and cortisol.

I don’t believe that Dr. Lee’s theories have been substantiated in scientific studies. It’s hard to know with other-counter-creams how much, if any progesterone, is in the product. Giving progesterone-only contraceptives raises the risk of osteoporosis in

premenopausal women. And oral “natural” progesterone is available, and often combine with “natural” (bio-identical) estrogen during perimenopause. But progesterone alone doesn’t stop hot flashes or preserve bone – not to my knowledge anyway. I’d put more hope in the ability of phytoestrogens in soy, red clover and flax seeds to preserve bone (even if they’re not terribly successful in eliminating hot flashes). There is a bit of evidence that the herb black cohosh has a positive effect on bone as well.

Here’s an abstract from the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology about the progesterone creams:.

J Obstet Gynaecol. 2007 Oct;27(7):655-9. Links

Transdermal natural progesterone cream for postmenopausal women: inconsistent data and complex pharmacokinetics.

Elshafie MA, Ewies AA.

Faculty of Health Wellbeing & Science University Campus of Suffolk, UK.

Transdermal progesterone cream (PC) is propagated as a possible alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the management of menopausal symptoms and treatment of osteoporosis. Nonetheless, considerable concerns were raised regarding the inco

Consuming pasteurized dairy products are of little benefit as the processing of the milk renders the majority of the calcium that occurs naturally, insoluble, plus the Vitamin-D the milk is "fortified" with is most likely synthetic.

In the first part of this you stated that the bone building hormone was estrogen. Take a look at the work of Dr Lee. He has written several books that deal with this subject. Progesterone is the bone building hormone and most women seem to get Osteoporosis after they quit their monthly dose of Progesterone at ovulation. The Estrogen is what takes the bone apart and the Progesterone is what builds it back.

One of the books he wrote is

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause

Check out http://www.johnleemd.com

We hear about all these drugs that help with Osteoperosis and nothing about natural Progesterone because the drug companies cannot patent it and will not do the studies.

Progesterone will increase bone density and help with the other things that go along with Pre and post Menopause.

My grandmother has osteoporosis, so I've always been worried that I will eventually get it, especially because I'm allergic to milk. Ever since I was little, I've drunk a lot of orange juice and taken calcium supplements to keep up with my calcium intake and prevent osteoporosis. In fact, I've started eating chocolate-flavored,chewable calcium supplements from viactiv. I definitely recommend them to anyone that wants a little flavor in their everyday pill-taking routine.