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Testosterone is Your Friend
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Chapter 9: Osteoporosis and Bone Health ______________________________________________________
Osteoporosis is all too common and affects far more women than men. In Western societies about half of women over the age of 65 have serious bone loss. About one in six men of the same age also have serious bone loss. There are no effective medical treatments for this despite the constant onslaught of advertising to the contrary. HRT for women, for example, did not improve bone health at all. None of the heavily promoted drugs improve bone density despite the alluring claims. Ironically, poor Third World countries have far less problems with their bone and joint health. All bone and joint conditions have the same basic causes and the same basic treatments. Whether we are talking about bone loss, arthritis or tooth decay, it is basically the same metabolism at work and the same cures - diet, supplements, hormones and exercise. The only real cures are natural ones. Please read Zen Macrobiotics for Americans and No More Horse Estrogen! for more information. Finally, we have a wealth of studies on women and most of the studies in this chapter will therefore be on women. Even though bone loss affects mostly women, the majority of published studies still concerned men only! This kind of bias has to stop.
Testosterone, DHEA and androstenedione (as is progest-erone) are all vital for bone growth. As we age it is important to maintain youthful DHEA (as well as progesterone) levels as well as testosterone levels to prevent bone loss in both sexes. There are many published studies fortunately showing that androgens in general are vital for bone growth, maintenance and the prevention of joint inflammation and deterioration.
Pre-, peri- and postmenopausal women were studied at Keio University in Japan in 1998 (Environmental Health and Pre-ventive Medicine, v. 3, pp.123-9). “Testosterone was positively correlated with BMD (bone mineral density)”, was their clear conclusion. They further went on to say, “These finding suggest that endogenous androgens may exert positive influences on BMD.”
Hypogonadal men with osteoporosis aged 34 to 73 were given supplemental testosterone at Freeman Hospital in the U.K (Bone, v. 18, 1996, pp. 171-7). Injections of salts every two weeks raised their levels over 50% and they got excellent results. “All bone markers decreased indicating that treatment suppressed bone turnover.” They said further, “Thus, testosterone is a promising treatment for men with idiopathic osteoporosis, acting to suppress bone resorption.” The fact that men in their 30’s were already suf-fering from serious bone loss is rather unsettling. Even using the wrong type of testosterone in the wrong way gave dramatic results in only six months considering the fact that long (trabeculuar) bones grow slowly.
Young men were tested at the University of Lodz in Poland in 2000 (Neuroendocrine Letters, v. 21, p. 25-30) for their bone mineral density as compared to their testosterone level. The conclusion was, “There was a positive correlation between testosterone concentrations and BMD as well as T-score both in healthy subjects and in infertile patients. Results of the present study indicate that attention should be paid to testosterone deficiency in the young age in terms of the potential risk of decreased bone mineral density in the advanced age.”
At Hunan University in China (Journal of Environmental Pathology, v. 19, 2000, pp. 167-9) both pre- and postmenopausal healthy women were studied. They concluded, “The bone mineral density of the lumbar spine, hip and forearm were significantly correlated with estriol and total testosterone respectively. Therefore different hormones should be considered in hormone replacement therapy.” They postulated that a major reason men have stronger bones is due to their higher testosterone level.
At Indiana State University (Journal of Clincal Investiga-tion, v. 97, 1996, pp. 14-21) 231 healthy women varying in age from 32 to 77 were studied for bone loss. “Bone loss was signi-ficantly associated with lower androgen (testosterone, andro-stenedione and DHEA) concentrations in premenopausal women, and with lower androgens in peri- and postmenopausal women.” Sex steroids are important for the maintenance of skeletal integrity before menopause and for as long as 20-25 years afterwards. “Testosterone, androstenedione and DHEA all fell dramatically as the women aged.” They also found that progesterone fell a full 59% on the average, which was also a major factor in osteoporosis.
A multi-center study headed by Emory University in Atlanta (Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, v. 69, 1989, pp. 533-9) did a long five year study for both pre- and peri-menopausal women. Free testosterone correlated positively with bone density, even after controlling for weight. “These data suggest that women who are still menstruating may have relative deficiencies in testosterone with reduced bone densities as a con-sequence. We found that free testosterone correlated positively and significantly with bone density. In summary these data highlight the importance of testosterone in women’s skeletal integrity and stress the critical influence of hormonal factors on bone loss.”
At the VA Hospital in St. Louis (Journal of Clinical Endo-crinology and Metabolism, v. 81, 1996, pp. 1108-17) a combina-tion of white and black women aged 20 to 90 were studied for their bone health. Bone density declined in all women over the age of 40 although black women had slightly stronger bones, mostly due to their having higher testosterone levels. Most were overweight (obesity has one advantage in that obese people tend to have stronger bones in order to support their excess weight). It was found that testosterone, DHEA and vitamin D levels were all very important determinants of bone strength in both races and all three fell as the women aged. This study covered women of two races and all ages.
A double blind study at Washington University in St. Louis (Clinical Endocrinology, v. 53, 2000, pp. 561-8) included elderly men and women with an average age of 73 years. They gave them all 50 mg of DHEA for 6 months. This is a very high dose for men and a completely irresponsible dose for women. Because of the overdose the men raised their testosterone 46% on the average and women 214%. Their lean muscle increased, their body fat decreased, and their bones got stronger. It should be emphasized that testosterone levels cannot be raised by giving normal doses of DHEA, and this happened only because these poor old people were given far too much. Doing this for a longer term would have resulted in serious side effects from hyper DHEA levels.
At the Tokyo Geriatric center in Japan in Pullman (Endo-crinology Japan, v. 38, 1991, pp. 343-9) elderly postmenopausal women had many of their hormones measured along with their BMI (body mass index). The women with the highest levels of calcitonin, DHEA, androstenedione and testosterone had the strongest bones and the least fractures.
Androstenedione was shown to be highly correlated with bone density at Cuore University in Rome (Experimental and Clinical Endocrinological Diabetes v. 104, 1996, 363-70). “Plasma androstenedione was the only other variable (besides PTH or para-thyroid) that contributed to spine BMI.” Testosterone and DHEA were not measured here but would have made the results a lot more complete.
At the Long Island Medical Center in New York (Inter-national Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, v. 25, 1987, pp. 217-22) postmenopausal women were studied for DHEA and androstenedione (testosterone was not studied here). “Our data clearly indicate a positive correlation of at least two androgens with bone density.” They found no such correlation for estrone or estradiol. Again, we see androgens are the bone building hormones. If testosterone had been tested they would have gotten the same results as nearly everyone else.
The above studies clearly prove the point. Androgens, especially testosterone are the bone building hormones and both men and women should keep their testosterone levels youthful as one part of a program of total bone health.
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