Osteoporosis Research Paper

Many people have probably heard of osteoporosis, and may understand it to be something along the lines of weaken bones, but may not understand the significance. Osteoporosis is characterized by decreased amount of bone density, and this loss of bone density allows for bones to be much weaker and even break easily. To avoid osteoporosis in the elderly, it is recommended to take calcium and vitamin D supplements, because it is much harder for the elderly to exercise, get sunlight, or even to prevent falling. Vitamin D works to increase calcium and phosphate levels, two key ingredients in bone formation, by increasing absorption from the intestines and the kidney. Furthermore, the circulating calcium and phosphate absorbed by the intestine and …show more content…
Estrogen, the female sex hormone, is a key player in osteoporosis because it can increase vitamin D levels, promoting an increase in bone density, thus the loss of estrogen allows for the bones to lose their density. This is concerning to the elderly because a loss in bone density, as mentioned previously, leads to weaker bones resulting in fractures. It is easy for the elderly to break bones to begin with, but having osteoporosis makes breaking bones a serious concern because they can break under conditions of light impact, like falling. In addition, it takes the elderly much longer to heal broken bones due to decreased repair mechanisms, for example decreased storage of calcium in bone due to lower Vitamin D levels. Hence, it seems logical that to treat osteoporosis in this elderly population the solution would be to simply give them calcium and vitamin D supplements to build up their bone density. However, there is controversy over if vitamin D effects increase bone density, with some studies finding no conclusive evidence in restoring bone density. Furthermore, studies have concerns that calcium supplementations might be harmful instead of beneficial to these