Got Bones? » October 2006

October 26, 2006

A Wisconson CBS station has done a piece warning about osteoporosis drugs. It features a woman with multiple myeloma who developed a jaw infection while taking an osteoporosis drug. They don't name specific drugs in the piece.

The video is in the upper right corner of the page.

WFRW.com

Posted by Staff at 12:46 PM | Comments (1)

October 13, 2006

A surprising new study has found that the antidepressant Prozac increases bone mass in some mice.

"Treating animals for six weeks with Prozac resulted in an increase in trabecular bone mass," said study lead author Ricardo Battaglino, assistant member of the staff in the department of cytokine biology at the Forsyth Institute in Boston. "It was a pretty significant 60 percent increase."

The study is surprising because a previous study in children found that Prozac slowed bone growth. Also, the new study found that Prozac only built bone in mice with circulatin estrogen in their bodies.

"It looks like, to be effective in relation to bone loss, Prozac needs to be in the presence of estrogen." This has implications for women moving into menopause who lose estrogen and have an increased risk of osteoporosis.

Prozac May Protect Against Osteoporosis

Posted by Staff at 4:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2006

Researchers have found that drinking too much cola - both diet and regular - may reduce bone density and contribute to osteoporosis in women. Interestingly, drinking cola seemed to have no effect on men's bone density.

Women who drank cola every week had a bone density that was 5% lower than women who didn't drink any cola.

The researchers did not work out specifically what in cola was to blame, however other studies have suggested that phosphoric acid, which is found in the drink, may cause calcium to be excreted from the body.

Women warned to stop drinking cola to avoid brittle bones

Posted by Staff at 4:03 AM | Comments (0)