Osteoporosis Causes

Factors Contributing to Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis has affected many people throughout the world. Over 28 million people in America alone are affected by osteoporosis. To fight with osteoporosis it is important to know the causes of osteoporosis. Although, it is not essentially a women’s disease, 85% of women are the victim of osteoporosis.

Scientists have found out that the bones in our body keep regenerating.
The old bones are destroyed are subsequently replaced by the new bones. The replacement of bones takes eight months to complete. The process of bones regeneration is also called remodeling of bones. The rate of regeneration of bones is quite high in the young age but after the age of 35, the rate of regeneration of new bones slows down. The overall loss of density and strength in bones subsequently causes osteoporosis.

What are the risk Factors Contributing to Osteoporosis?

Usually, no single factor is attributed as the cause of osteoporosis. The various bone depleting factors are said to add upon one another and cause osteoporosis.
The bone loss in men and women is accelerated as they age. Osteoporosis can also be an outcome of some other disease like eating disorders.

The numerous factors that may cause osteoporosis are discussed below:

• Lack of exercise: Exercise helps to maintain good bone regeneration rate.
• Aging:
  The bone replacement rate also reduces with aging. Hence, the basic strength of the skeleton diminishes.
• Genetics:
  If either parent has osteoporosis then the siblings are also prone to suffer from osteoporosis.
• Menopause:
  There is decrease in estrogen production in women during menopause. The estrogen deficiency increases the bone loss in women during menopause. This makes women more vulnerable to osteoporosis.
• Excess phosphorous intake:
  The excess of phosphorus in body is also responsible for causing osteoporosis. The body has to draw calcium in suitable proportions to balance the phosphorus. Soda forms the main source of phosphorus intake.
• Alcohol consumption:
  Absorption of calcium is hindered by excess alcohol consumption.
• Smoking:
  Smoking also contributes to the causes of osteoporosis.
• Excessive salt and sugar:
  Intake of excess salt and sugar is also harmful because both of them are responsible for leaching out calcium from bones into the urine.
• Birth control pills:
  Birth control pills are also sometimes responsible for osteoporosis as they reduce the folic acid content in the body.
• Vitamin D deficiency:
  Lack of vitamin D also weakens your bones. You must expose yourself to sunlight to increase its intake.
• Excessive fats:
  Excess fat consumption is also responsible to cause osteoporosis.

Certain medications are also responsible for osteoporosis:

• Glucocorticoids:
  These may reduce your bone mass if you consume them for a long period of time.
• Corticosteroids:
  These are a form of steroids use to treat certain diseases. The Corticosteroids may cause osteoporosis.
• Gonadotropin releasing hormone:
  This hormone is used to treat many medical conditions. But women taking this treatment may suffer from low estrogen level, resulting in osteoporosis.
• Aluminum-containing antacids:
  These may also lead to osteoporosis.
• Chemotherapy:
  This is a treatment given to cancer patients but this treatment can leads to osteoporosis.

Apart from these, various other medicines can also cause osteoporosis. Therefore before taking any treatment, you must consult your doctor because every medication has its side effects.
Various drug interactions with other drugs or medications may also be responsible the cause of osteoporosis.