Osteopenia3 - new studies

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March topics:

1. Research study - bone loss in men

2. 2006 study of Evista and women

3. Calcium supplements - help or harm

4. March updating

This newsletter promised to keep you posted about new research. Here are two studies for your attention this month.

1. The first is about men, estrogen and testosterone and bone loss.

The study was published a few years ago but it was not widely publicized. Since 1 out over 5 persons with Osteoporosis, news about what many help men is important.

The study is rather long, so I put it on the web site since I know that some of you can not receive long e-mails. You can find the study about men and estrogen [YES, estrogen!] at ttp://www.osteopenia3.com/Men-Osteoporosis-estrogen.html

2. Your heart and Evista [raloxifene] - a study published last month in the American Journal of Cardiology.

The authors were: Ensrud K, Riccardo Genazzani A, Geiger MJ, McNabb M, Dowsett SA, Cox DA, Barrett-Connor E. and the title, Effect of raloxifene on cardiovascular adverse events in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

This study found that in post-menopausal women with osteoporosis, raloxifene decreased vertebral fracture risk (4 yrs study, MORE) and decreased breast cancer risk in both the Core group studied and MORE group -those with a 4 yr follow-up.

Retrospective analysis in a MORE subgroup with high risk of Cardiovascular events further suggested that raloxifene might be protective for the Cardiovascular system. In this report, the risk of Cardiovascular events in the 3430 MORE participants who completed CORE are presented.

Of note, both MORE and CORE groups inclusion criteria excluded patients at high risk of thrombo-embolic events.

No significant differences in CardioVascular events were found between raloxifene and placebo over 8 yrs. In fact, hazard ratios for both cerebrovascular and coronary events subgroups all pointed towards an increased risk among raloxifene subjects, and this risk was nearly two-fold higher for raloxifene in a sub-group of women with anti-hypertensive medication.

That's it. If you have concerns, talk to your physician. I will put an exact reference to this study on the Evista web page in the next 10 days so you can find the abstract and print it out for your physician if you plan to discuss it.

3. CALCIUM SUPPLEMENTS - help or harm?

Many people diagnosed with Osteopenia or Osteoporosis immediately think: "I need to add more calcium to my diet."

But increasing calcium alone can raise blood pressure in some people. Also, simply adding calcium can be a waste since without sufficient Vitamin D it will not be used for bones. Also Vitamin K and boron are needed but of even more importance is magnesium.

Without all the other essentials, the extra calcium taken can go right through you...or it can be deposited in joints, soft tissue or even arteries.

Now most calcium supplements today do include Vitamin D and magnesium. But there are more and more research oriented physicians saying that we need MORE magnesium than these supplements give.

Most calcium/magnesium supplements on the market give twice as much calcium as magnesium.The ratio is 2:1. But a number of physicians are recommending a ratio 3:2 or even 1:1.

This is important since magnesium not only helps in the making of bone but it has effects on muscles, including the heart muscle. Some of you may be aware of these new recommended ratios. You may have a physician who is recommending them.

But to allow everyone to read up on the Magnesium: Calcium connections, I put some pages about magnesium on the web site. One discusses recommended ratios and another magnesium rich food sources. Just go to the site index page and scroll down to the M's. https://www.osteopenia3.com/Osteopenia-Index.html

If you know anyone taking calcium alone, you might suggest that they read the pages about Vitamin D, Vitamin K and Magnesium or that they ask their health care providers for guidance.

Thank you for reading this far....and for your many kind e-mails saying how much the web site and newsletter mean to you. And since March is a seasonal transition month, I shall try to add some new pages and nformation to the web site. Again, the Index page is a quick way to find new things.

Kate