This is well put: “Osteoporosis is a serial killer. It affects one in three women and one in 12 men — and kills more women than all gynecological cancers put together. Bones get progressively more brittle until they snap and when they do, it’s bad news. One in six women taken to hospital with a hip fracture will not come out alive, and men fare even worse.”
That’s from The Guardian, a mainstream newspaper in the U.K. that is rarely allowed by its elitist masters to tell the unvarnished truth. Yet that little gem got through.
Further, one-third of all fall-related deaths are attributed to low bone density. A 2015 study by an Australian bone and joint research group determined that osteoporosis can lead to premature death not just in old folks but in persons 45 and older.
Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disorder that causes bone to become more fragile, with an increased risk of fracturing either from an impact like a fall or a simple thing like coughing or even just by itself because the structure can no longer handle the load of your weight and breaks down. People with osteoporosis are more likely to break bones, most often in the hip, forearm, wrist and spine.
Osteoporosis (and osteopenia, which refers to low bone density in general), can affect people of all ages. It is more prevalent among older people, especially women, it is quite common for young people even in their teens and twenties to be afflicted with osteoporosis or osteopenia. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF), worldwide, osteoporosis causes a fracture in someone every three seconds!
Precautionary screening is recommended because today we have evidence that genetics are an important factor in predicting who is most at risk for osteoporosis. “At least 30 percent of the cause of osteoporosis is genetic,” says expert Dr. Gordana Prelevic. “Any woman with a mom, grandmother or aunt who had a hip fracture is at greatly increased risk. We also know that women who don’t have [menstrual] periods for long stretches of time because of anorexia, or because they breastfeed for a long time or go into early menopause, are at risk. Heavy smokers and very underweight women are also more prone.”
Other risk factors include excessive alcohol use, taking certain medications like steroids for long periods, having prior broken bones, having a sedentary lifestyle, suffering from inflammatory arthritis, and ethnicity (research has shown that Caucasian and Asian women are more at risk than African-American and Hispanic women).
The disease doesn’t really give any warnings with symptoms to alert victims to its presence. Without regular screening, it often gets discovered only after a fracture has already occurred. Many people with osteoporosis don’t even know they have it until they break a bone. Osteoporosis screening is covered by Medicare for people with Part B who meet certain conditions.
Diagnosis of osteoporosis involves BMD (bone mineral density) testing with special equipment and is measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA — commonly pronounced “dexa”) — which measures both mineral content and bone size. Interpreting the data from the testing must be done with care because the results can be skewed by the presence of osteoarthritis in the spine. Supplementary blood and urine tests can help rule out secondary causes for osteoporosis.
Are you at risk, or already suffering?
If osteoporosis is confirmed, it’s especially important to avoid falls and body impacts. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that 95 percent of all hip fractures are caused by falling, usually sideways. Women experience three-fourths of all hip fractures.
Assess your risk of falling and review things you can do to minimize the risk, like rearranging furniture in your home for clear passage, removing things like rugs on wood floors that can slip or things you can potentially trip over like ottomans, low tables and small magazine racks.
One thing most people don’t associate with falls is their eyesight. Have your eyes checked annually to get your glasses updated if needed. And take extra care with bifocals, because they distort the view of the area near your feet where you’re stepping.
Unless absolutely necessary, avoid using medicines that can make you dizzy or sleepy. This includes not only prescription medications but over-the-counter meds like cold and allergy pills or sleep aids.
Speaking of medications, it’s also important to avoid at all costs the osteoporosis “medications” proffered by the pharmaceuticals. You are told these “bisphosphonates” improve bone density, but what they do is cause your bones to keep more old, brittle bone cells. Yes, this increases bone density, but do you want an increase in old, bad bone material? Fosomax, Boniva, Reclast and Actonel are associated with rare bone breaks in the middle of the largest leg bones, for example.
Instead, what you need to know is that low testosterone levels in men and low progesterone in women can increase the risk of osteoporosis because they control the rate of new bone deposits. If you are low on testosterone and progesterone, calcium will drop away from your bones very fast.
Do exercises to make your legs stronger and improve your balance. This increases testosterone and growth hormone. Tai Chi is a good example of this kind of exercise. Weight-bearing exercise like lifting weights stimulates bone formation to enhance strength, balance and flexibility. It also improves the ability to avoid falls.
Men should try to minimize daily exposure to estrogen-like chemicals such as BPA (bisphenol-A, a chemical that is added to many commercial products including food containers and hygiene products), parabens, and other chemicals found in some types of plastic.
Along with the main hormones (testosterone, progesterone and estrogen), vitamin D is your body’s main regulator of bone density and growth. Mainstream “wisdom” cautions against getting too much sun. But we need the sun to produce vitamin D, the only nutrient your body produces when exposed to sunlight.
Foods that stop osteoporosis
You can fuel your body with the nutrients that give you the best chance of holding back osteoporosis from foods like salmon, herring and sardines, shrimp, oysters, canned tuna, cod liver oil, egg yolks, mushrooms, fortified orange juice and cow’s milk. All have vitamins essential to bone health.
My colleague Dr. Al Sears reminds us in his newsletter that “boron is crucial to bone strength, with increasing benefits as people age. It keeps bones from losing calcium and magnesium. The best way to get it from food is by eating nuts, plums, prunes, red grapes, raisins, apples, pears and avocados.”
Foods that increase osteoporosis
Processed salt! Put away the white stuff and choose sea salt. Avoid or lighten up on ultra-processed foods.
Carbonated drinks! These contain phosphoric acid which can cause excretion loss of calcium in urine.
Bob Livingston
