Natural Progesterone and Osteoporosis page 2
To really understand the condition called osteoporosis, you need to understand the physiology of bone.
What are bone made of ?
Bone is made up of calcium and phosphorous crystals, imbedded in a matrix of protein fibers. The calcium gives the bone its strength and rigidity, while the protein collagen, mostly makes the bone somewhat flexible. Other materials present in bone include fluoride, sodium, potassium, magnesium, and citrate. These other elements help hold the calcium and phosphorus crystals together HOW IS BONE FORMED Bone is living tissue, and is constantly being broken down and reformed, like all tissue in the body. Bone formation is needed for growth, for repair of microscopic fractures that result from everyday stress, and for the replacement of worn-out bone. begins with bone breakdown. Bone absorbing cells called osteocytes dig cavities in the inner surface of the bone microscopic cavities. Next, bone building cells called osteoblasts begin filling in these cavities with new bone cells. These cells begin the bone rebuilding process by first producing the collagen matrix. This is followed by a laying down of the calcium and phosphorus crystals within the matrix a process called bone mineralization. Each year, between 10% and 30% of your entire skeleton is remodeled in this way.
Is calcium a key factor?
Calcium is essential for muscle contraction, blood clotting, plus brain and nerve function, as well as being a key ingredient in the bone demineralization process. If you don't get enough calcium, your body is in negative calcium balance. To correct the imbalance, the body's hormones will release calcium from the skeleton into the bloodstream to make calcium available for nerves and muscles. If there is a long term deficiency, the skeletal storage depot can become depleted of its calcium, leaving porous, brittle, breakable bone the condition known as osteoporosis.
What are the different types of bone?
Structurally, there are basically two different types of bone cortical and trabeicular Cortical bone is very dense and solid. The long, hard bones of your arms and legs are mostly of this type. trabeicular bone, on the other hand, is much more porous, honeycombed with many minute spaces. Every bone has both types, with the porous, trabeicular bone on the inside, and solid, cortical bone on the outside, though in different proportions depending on which bone it is. Spinal vertebrae, for example, are mostly porous, trabeicular bone, with a thin, cortical shell. Since osteoporosis affects trabeicular bone more than cortical bone, the spine is one of the first areas to be affected by osteoporosis.
What happens during Osteoporosis?
During childhood and adolescence, bone builders form more new tissue than bone eaters take away. But sometime after age 30, bone eaters begin to outnumber bone builders and loss exceeds gain. “Your skeleton is like a bank account,” says Dr. Carolyn Becker, an endocrinologist who heads the Osteoporosis Centre of Western Connecticut at Danbury Hospital. “You put in bone deposits during your first 30 years or so; then you start to withdraw. The bigger your account, the more you have to draw on for the rest of your life. After menopause, loss of oestrogen will accelerate calcium loss in your body, and you may become an osteoporosis victim. If you have had your ovaries removed, your chances of getting osteoporosis are increased to 50/50. If your mother or grandmother became noticeably shorter with age, became stooped, or suffered hip or wrist fractures, your chances of having osteoporosis are also very high. Americans - 80 percent of them women-- suffer from the ailment. Although it strikes both sexes, women are most affected because of their dramatic rate of bone loss in early menopause, when oestrogen production wanes. Unfortunately, there are no early symptoms the disease steals silently into victims' lives until their bones are as fragile as dry twigs. Although osteoporosis affects half of American women over age 50 and most by age 75, “women of all ages remain ignorant of it,” says Dr. Robert Heaney, professor of medicine at Omaha's Crighton University. “They may think of cancer and heart disease as threats and be unaware of the risk of osteoporosis, which is substantially greater. According to a Gallup Poll conducted for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, more than 80 percent of women failed to link osteoporosis with the 300,000 hip fractures, 500,000 vertebral fractures and 200,000 wrist fractures the disease causes each year. Nor did they know that some 50,000 women die yearly from blood clots and pneumonia, complications of hospitalization for hip fractures, more than succumb to breast cancer, a disease women are more likely to fear.
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