It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the way bone drugs like Prolia® and Fosamax® are used these days. But people sometimes misinterpret my thinking as being “anti-drug” — yet it’s not just the drugs I object to. It’s how medicine in general approaches bone health and fracture risk.
I have at least 6 major objections to the standard approach, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll look at them two at a time over the next three weeks.
Having a low-side bone density isn’t actually a health problem. It doesn’t hurt or limit mobility — it doesn’t even necessarily mean the bones aren’t strong! It’s only when you fracture a bone that you have a health problem — and more, you cannot predict fracture by bone density alone. In fact, the majority of people whose bones are so fragile they experience a low-trauma fracture do not have an “osteoporotic” bone density.
That’s why treating low bone density bones as a “disorder” that “needs to be addressed” with heavy-duty medications makes no sense. Weak bones, on the other hand, need intervention. And, as far as weak bones go, there’s almost always an underlying problem causing the depletion of bone strength — whether it be nutritional, hormonal, bone-damaging medications, or some other hidden health condition or lifestyle factor. Properly detected and corrected these underlying causes can greatly reduce the risk of fracture. This is why a real fracture risk assessment and an assessment of underlying causes are so critical to developing a comprehensive bone-building program.
Given that a low-side bone density does not necessarily indicate weak bones, why do you suppose doctors are so adamant that people with a low-side bone density need treatment? They’re afraid their patient will have a serious fracture.
But fear of fractures is itself bone damaging and can be a self-fulfilling prophecy — literally, as studies have linked higher levels of stress and the stress hormone cortisol with osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. A recent Danish study, for example, showed that just the perception of stress — seeing yourself as stressed — increases risk of osteoporotic fracture by 68%. It is bad enough that we have so many reasons to fall into stress and worry, we really do not need our health professional piling on more stress with unfounded fears of fracture. Again, what’s needed is a fracture risk assessment leading to a comprehensive bone building program — one that includes stress reduction and hope.
It’s interesting to note that Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that bone health is determined by the “kidney energy” and that fear is the emotion that disrupts the kidney energetic system. (And even Western medicine links osteoporosis with renal disease because the kidneys play such a central role in vitamin D metabolism, mineral reabsorption, and acid-base balance. (As I have discussed before, when kidneys can’t adequately buffer metabolic acids, calcium from bones is called upon to rescue essential pH homeostasis.) The ancient Chinese wisdom tradition suggests that the kidneys control bone and fear damages the kidneys — and I have found this to be true. All in all, we need less fear and more hope and bone-building solutions.
References:
Adeva, M. M., and G. Souto. 2011. Diet-induced metabolic acidosis. Clinical Nutrition 30(4):416–421.
Azuma, K., Y. Adachi, H. Hayashi, and K. Y. Kubo. 2015. Chronic psychological stress as a risk factor of osteoporosis. Journal of UOEH 37(4):245–253.
Häussler, B., H. Gothe, D. Göl, G. Glaeske, L. Pientka, and D. Felsenberg. 2007. Epidemiology, treatment and costs of osteoporosis in Germany: The BoneEVA Study. Osteoporosis International 18(1):77–84.
Lu, Nan. 2010. Traditional Chinese medicine: A woman’s guide to a hormone-free menopause. TCMWF Publishing, New York.
Seeman, E., J. P. Devogelaer, R. Lorenc, T. Spector, K. Brixen, A. Balogh, G. Stucki, and J. Y. Reginster. 2008. Strontium ranelate reduces the risk of vertebral fractures in patients with osteopenia. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 23(3):433–438.
Stone, K. L., D. G. Seeley, L. Y. Lui, J. A. Cauley, K. Ensrud, W. S. Browner, M. C. Nevitt, S. R. Cummings, and Osteoporosis Fractures Research Group. 2003. BMD at multiple sites and risk of fracture of multiple types: Long-term results from the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 18(11):1947–1954.
Fosamax® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc.
Prolia® is a registered trademark of Amgen Inc.