By John McDougall, MD
Two-thirds of Women Have Weak Bones. Or Do They?
A large study published in the New England Journal of Medicine included 5,470 women from three communities forming a representative spectrum of women living in the US.1 Of these women, 1,255 were considered to have normal bones, whereas 4,215 suffered from osteoporosis or osteopenia. (Osteopenia is a milder loss as measured by the BMD and is due to the natural thinning of the bones that occurs as women age and does not result in unprovoked fractures.) The findings of this study mean that of all women over the age of 67 living in the US, 77% are in need of more testing and treatment for their “diseased bones.” How could this be?