The commonly held beliefs that osteoporosis is a disease confined to old women and an inevitable part of aging are putting millions of Americans at risk of the disease, without them even knowing it. Osteoporosis – quite literally “porous bone” – is a disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of the bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, especially of the hip, spine and wrist.

Osteoporosis is an “old woman’s” disease…

Women, and men, can develop osteoporosis at any age. This is especially true if they have chronic asthma or arthritis that requires medications such as glucocorticoids (anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant drugs) that can lead to bone loss.

Osteoporosis is an inevitable part of aging…

Not true. In most cases, osteoporosis is preventable. Prevention needs to starts early in childhood, and continue throughout a person’s life. By building a strong and durable skeleton from childhood through to early adulthood, the chances of developing osteoporosis in later life are greatly lessened.

Osteoporosis is not common…

As I mentioned previously, osteoporosis and low bone density affect over 50 percent of the population aged 50 and over. That’s 44 million people. Estimates put this number at over 52 million by 2010, and over 61 million by 2020. In the U.S. alone, osteoporosis is responsible for 1.5 million hip fractures every year.

Source: http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/osteoporosis.shtml

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