August 20th, 2004
SAGE Crossroads on Osteoporosis
Here is a frightening statistic from SAGE Crossroads: "Thanks to thinning skeletons, half of all postmenopausal women and a quarter of men over 50 will fracture a bone." This, like many other unpleasant future realities, is something that we don't like to think about - but sticking our heads in the sand is a bad strategy. It is far better to actively support scientists who are working on therapies for osteoporosis. "One recent study found a gene that controls whether cells grow into fat or bone-building cells, whereas another study found a gene that caused both weight gain and bone-thinning in mice. Although the work is in its early stages, drugs aimed at such genes might encourage the maintenance of healthy bones in older people."