It’s often suggested that the major causes of osteoporosis in women are low calcium intake and lower estrogen levels at menopause. A cross-cultural perspective, however, shows that this is not always true. People in many countries have lower calcium intakes than in the US, yet osteoporosis is less prevalent in these cultures. As an example, the Japanese calcium intake has only recently risen to 540 mg per day, much less than the US RDA for post-menopausal women of 1,200 mg per day. And yet the US hip fracture rate is twice that of Japan!
Anthropologists also have long noted that many native African populations exhibit very low fracture rates while consuming 300 mg of calcium a day. This low calcium intake was recently verified in an anthropological study on Gambian women. In fact, overall research has shown that countries with the highest calcium intakes have the highest hip fracture rates.
The same holds true for estrogen. A decrease in estrogen at menopause is universal in women worldwide, but osteoporosis is not. Mayan women in Central America, Bantu women of Africa and Japanese women all have lower estrogen levels than women of various ethnic groups in the United States, but they all experience many fewer fractures than American women. Also, the few years before menopause is a time of rapid bone loss for most women, yet a woman’s estrogen level at this time can be higher than during her reproductive years. So attributing osteoporosis to the natural decrease in estrogen at menopause is too simplistic.
But if neither calcium nor estrogen causes osteoporosis, what does?
In adulthood, bone mass and strength are maintained through the balance of bone breakdown and bone buildup forces. Both building up new bone and breaking down old bone are essential, as bone needs to repair itself and “remodel” itself on a daily basis. Excessive bone weakening and osteoporosis occur when, over time, the forces of bone breakdown are much greater than the forces of bone buildup.
It’s all a question of balance . . .
Many of our common lifestyles and cultural patterns actually add to our total load of bone breakdown forces. Unwittingly, we’ve taken on ways of being, eating, doing and acting that weaken bone. As my mentor, Dr. Russell Jaffe, summarizes: “Osteoporosis is a hidden tax of high-tech living.”
Take a look and assess which bone depleting factors you face.
The forces contributing to or directly causing osteoporosis are divided into five categories:
Dietary causes and nutrient inadequacies:
Lifestyle factors that cause osteoporosis:
Medicines that cause osteoporosis:
Diseases that cause osteoporosis:
An excellent first step is to assess your individual load of bone-depleting factors. Take a moment and look at our wobbly camel, struggling under multiple bone-depleting burdens.
Where do you want to start in your journey of building bone strength? Which burdens can you modify? There are some things you cannot change, but there are others that you can — so start there. A simple start might be to make a new exercise commitment, to set the goal of eating 3 to 4 cups of vegetables a day, or to begin meditating and reducing emotional stress. All of the bone-building — and bone-depleting — factors are interrelated, and even small changes over time add up and can make a big difference!
And it’s not unusual to find that changing one factor in a small way can also improve one of those other factors that you can’t change directly — for instance, changing your diet or reducing your stress burden may not only help your bones, but also improve digestive or autoimmune disorders, giving you a doubly beneficial effect!
Here at the Center for Better Bones we offer our comprehensive time-tested, natural Better Bones, Better Body Program. Join us for a deeper dive into building Better Bones and a Better Body at any age!
To learn more on the topic of osteoporosis and bone loss, read our additional articles here: