Stronger bones for men

Over the years of working with natural progesterone for osteoporosis, I was often asked about whether men also suffered from this painful bone condition – and the answer is a resounding yes. Because you don’t get any early warning symptoms with osteoporosis, it is vital for men to keep track of their health. I talked with a man in his 30′s who played rugby every Saturday and kept getting more frequent bone breaks than average. When he had a bone scan, he had advanced osteoporosis and all the fractures had been his ‘early warning’ signs.

Certainly men do benefit from taking natural progesterone for osteoporosis, but there now seems to be another factor, certainly in older men. Getting plenty of vitamin C from foods and supplements seems to boost bone strength in the over 70′s, according to research at Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA. They found that men whose had the highest intake of vitamin C intake also had the least bone loss in the hip. On an average dose of 314mg those didn’t lose bone density in the hip- even when their calcium intake was low – but men who got the least vitamin C of only 106 mg per day lost 5.6 percent of their bone over the four years.

Sadly the same effects were not seen in the women in the study, but it’s a good reason for getting at least 500mg of C a day to help protect bone health.

Osteoporosis – Men at risk

For the first time, men over 50 are mentioned in new guidelines for prevention and treatment of osteoporosis issued in the USA by the National Osteoporosis Foundation. Menopausal women are usually considered the biggest risk group but the new guidelines have now been extended to both men and women. Traditionally a diagnosis of osteoporosis is rarely given for men, generally because it is not considered to be likely, but these new guidelines make it clear that this is no longer the case. If you are subject to more than the average falls and broken bones then it makes sense for everyone who may be at risk of osteoporosis to seek medical advice for a scan and treatment, whatever your gender.