For the first time ever, an extensive genome-wide search has been undertaken to find the genes linked to osteoporosis and fracture. Five regions of interest have been identified that appear to warrant further scientific investigation.

A group of University of Southern California School of Dentistry researchers says it has identified the slimy culprits killing the jawbones of some people taking drugs that treat osteoporosis.

The risk of osteoporosis (bone fracture) in women is highly recognized by the public. Less appreciated is the fact that the disorder also occurs in men. Some two million males have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and another three million are at risk.

Results from a large study indicate that variants of the gene LRP5 are associated with a significant increase in the risk of fractures, by up to 20 percent, and lower levels of bone mineral density in the spine and hip, according to a study in the March 19 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on Genetics and Genomics.

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) has welcomed the recently published paper European guidance for the diagnosis and management of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women from the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO).

How did a failed contraceptive become the first targeted therapy for the treatment of breast cancer" The transformation of tamoxifen, from cast-off to lifesaver, laid the foundation for a new class of therapeutics – selective estrogen receptor modulators – that could treat or prevent a variety of human diseases, including cancer and osteoporosis, according to V. Craig Jordan, OBE, Ph.D., D.Sc., a researcher at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia.

A series of recent scientific publications have exaggerated the benefits and underplayed the harms of drugs to treat pre-osteoporosis or “osteopenia” potentially encouraging treatment in millions of low risk women, warn experts in this week’s BMJ.

In the 1960s, Ancer Keys, a US expert on nutrition, studied the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet for the first time. Since then many studies on the benefits of olive oil have been conducted.

A University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute study has found that a popular class of osteoporosis drugs nearly triples the risk of developing bone necrosis, a condition that can lead to disfigurement and incapacitating pain.

Athanasios Zavras began receiving messages from distraught patients in 2005 after case reports linked oral osteoporosis meds to bone death in the jaw.

With the nation collectively spending about $18 billion per year on osteoporosis related bone fractures, Geisinger researchers found that streamlining the ordering process for osteoporosis bone density scans quadrupled the number of patients who received the exam.

Ten million people in the United States are estimated to already have bone diseases, and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, putting them at increased risk for osteoporosis, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation.