Osteopenia and Osteoporosis

Of the Ten Million Americans who have Osteoporosis, 80 Percent are Women.

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In episode 59 of the BioBalance Healthcast, Dr. Maupin and Brett Newcomb talk about osteopenia and osteoporosis.

What is Osteoporosis?

• Thinning of bone density over time
• Measure bone density against a standard for 29 year old female averages
• Use of the bell curve as a statistical tool
• If you are more than 1 up to 2.5 SD out from average you have osteopenia
• Greater than 2.5 you have osteoporosis

How to Improve Bone Density

• Testosterone
• Estrogen
• Vitamin D
• Weight Bearing Exercise
• Calcium in the diet

How Do Bones Become Less Dense?

• It is normally a slow progressive change in bone thickness that begins in women before menopause and continues after menopause at the rate of 1% of your bone per year

Why Do We Get Osteoporosis?

• Aging leads to loss of estrogen and testosterone
• Sedentary Life Style
• Poor Diet
• Genetic Predisposition

Marketing Osteoporosis

• Before the advent of a drug to “cure” osteoporosis, doctors rarely diagnosed the problem
• A new wonder drug was developed to fight osteoporosis called Fosamax
• This drug allowed us to focus on treatment rather than avoidance

How to Avoid Getting Osteoporosis

• Be Male: The key hormones involved are testosterone and estradiol, but it is interesting that men rarely get the disease unless they are on steroids for asthma or another disease
• Replace estrogen and testosterone naturally
• Get the best out of your genetic potential

Why is treatment or avoidance so important?

• Osteoporosis leads to disability, poor posture, chronic pain, broken hips and crushed vertebrae

Other contributors to thin bones

• There are lifestyle choices and medical treatments that also increase our risk of thin bones
• Smoking, avoidance of milk in our diet, lack of sunshine and a sedentary lifestyle
• Amphetamine use, Lupron treatment for Endometriosis, corticosteroid use
• Some illnesses like removal of our ovaries, anorexia, or premature menopause can also cause osteoporosis

Do osteoporosis drugs really work?

• Recent studies on bisphosphonates showed that this class of drug that made bones “look” thick on bone density testing. Studies proved that bones were actually fragile and easily fractured.
• I do not recommend the class of drug that includes, Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva to my patients until further study answers the question.

What to do instead

• Bones are responsive to estrogen and testosterone. With these hormones and an adequate diet, you can protect your bones and yourself from disability and pain, and life threatening fractures.

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