Originally published October 5 2005
Doctor draws the line between bone density and bone strength
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Bernard Brom, editor of the South African Journal of Natural Medicine, examines certain assumptions about osteoporosis and considers the impact of lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise patterns.
Osteoporosis is and should be a serious concern for everyone, not just the elderly.
Bone mass reaches its peak at the age of about 30 years and then begins to fall.
This means that the stronger the bones are at this age the longer they will take to become osteoporotic.
� How do doctors measure bone density and what does it mean?
� Is oestrogen deficiency or calcium deficiency the main cause of osteoporosis?
Compared with other tissues and organs in the body the bones seem hard and unyielding when healthy, yet despite this appearance there is a remarkable turnover of minerals, and even the structure can change in a short period of time.
When bones are immobilised in plaster or if astronauts are subjected to low-gravity conditions then bone mass decreases.
Bone density measurement Just as high blood pressure diagnosis was not possible without the advent of a device to measure blood pressure so osteoporosis diagnosis is not possible without machines to measure bone density.
DEXA measures bone density, but this is not the measure of bone strength.
While there is a correlation between bone density and fracture risk there is no way to know the exact fracture risk of each individual.
The reason for this is that as indicated above, bone density does not equal bone weakness.
While all women go through menopause the incidence of osteoporosis is very different in different populations, suggesting that it is not just a question of hormones or even calcium.
For example, older folk in France, Germany, China and Japan have lower bone density than in the USA, yet suffer fewer osteoporotic fractures.
Also, despite the fact that most women in the USA are osteoporotic by the age of 80, only a small percentage of them suffer hip fractures each year.
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