Osteoporosis Myths And Unknowns

What are the major myths about osteoporosis?

One of the more interesting myths about osteoporosis is that men don't develop osteoporosis. Actually, men don't have a menopause like women but they very gradually have a decrease in testosterone with age over most of their lifespan. If their bone density gets low enough, they have fractures like women. About 20% of hip fractures, for instance, are occurring in men. Another myth with osteoporosis that is very interesting to me is that exercise has a dramatic effect on bone density. I am told this all the time by patients. However, the evidence for this is very small and I don't believe that exercise increases bone density significantly or enough to make a difference in preventing fractures.

What are the major unknowns about osteoporosis?

One of the major unknowns about osteoporosis is what abnormal genes account for the heredity of osteoporosis. Many efforts have been made to determine which genes produce this problem, but as yet, there is no real agreement on this. I think this will be very important for the future, particularly in determining the risks of children in terms of will they develop osteoporosis because their parent did. Another unknown, equally important, is how we can cure osteoporosis. If stem cell therapy would do that in the future, that would be fine.