There’s no question that your bone health is intimately tied to quality and length of life. Osteoporosis, a condition of severe boneloss, carries a markedly higher risk of bone fracture, the most serious being a hip fracture, which can lead to loss of independence and lower quality of life. The mortality rate after a hip fracture is 27 percent within one year and 79 percent by four years.1
Osteopenia, a diagnosis for bones that are clearly less dense than normal but not severe enough to meet the criteria for osteoporosis, also carries an increased fracture risk.
The standard therapy for osteopenia or osteoporosis, which is medication to block bone breakdown, does improve bone density but with serious potential side effects, including esophageal cancer, jawbone necrosis and atypical fractures of the femur after prolonged use.2 In atypical fractures, the leg bone breaks under minimal stress, likely because medication helps make the bones more dense, but also more brittle.
THE MORTALITY RATE AFTER A HIP FRACTURE IS 27% WITHIN ONE YEAR AND 79% BY FOUR YEARS
