Men: You Get Osteoporosis, Too!

"Male osteoporosis has been a silent problem for decades but is becoming more prevalent as Baby Boomers age, doctors say. Osteoporosis-related fractures in men cost $4.1 billion in direct medical expenses as of 2005, with the total expected to rise to more than $6 billion by 2025, according to a 2006 study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research."

"In fact, men account for more than 29 percent -- about 595,000 -- of the estimated 2 million osteoporosis-related bone fractures in the United States each year, and more than 30 percent of hip fractures, according to the 2006 bone study.  Men also have far greater risk of dying as a result of a hip fracture than women do. Experts suggest men who have hip fractures may be older and sicker than women who do, or that the lengthy period of enforced inactivity after a fracture is more detrimental to men. “With men, one out of three are dead after a hip fracture within a year,” Adler says. “And those who survive have a lower chance of being independent.”

These numbers are staggering in light of the fact that there is precious little attention given to men by their medical doctors concerning osteoporosis and the very real dangers that this disease pose.  I can say, after 25 years of working with male patients, not a single one of them had taken any mineral supplementation.  It has taken much more convincing on our part to get men to take calcium, magnesium and potassium supplements than women.  It was also not helpful that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force issued a report discouraging the use of Vitamin D and calcium supplements to prevent broken bones...not even bothering to mention the possibility of the existence of male osteoporosis. 

I can understand why study after study show no real increase in bone density with calcium supplements because all of those used calcium salts as the source.  I tell all my patients that, years ago, the Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a series of studies showing that calcium salts fail to increase bone density...only calcium from food sources can do that.  This is why we carry only whole food, organic supplements in our office.  I can tell you that before and after DXA scans in our  women patients did show significant increases in the bone density of those who regularly took these supplements.  

Considering the magnitude of the possible consequences of osteoporosis in men, why wouldn't they want to take the right kind of mineral supplement, daily?

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