What are the Causes of Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a bone disease, which often results in weakening of bones. Osteoporosis means porous bones, which become so weak and brittle that even a mild stress may cause fracture. Though the exact cause of osteoporosis is not known yet, significant loss of bone mineral density is considered to be the main causes of osteoporosis.

When you are young body uses calcium and phosphate for the production of bones. These two minerals are very much essential for normal formation of bones. The deficiency of any of these minerals may affect bone production and bone tissues.

As you grow old, body reabsorbs calcium and phosphate from the bones, which weakens the bone tissue. Both the conditions result into formation of weak and brittle bones, which causes osteoporosis. The bones become so weak that even mild stresses like coughing, sneezing, bending or lifting may result in fracture.

When you are young your body makes more bones than what is loses increasing the bone mass. Around 30, your peak bone mass is achieved. After this bone remodeling continues, but you lose more bone than what you gain. When the bone loss reaches a certain point it can cause osteoporosis. Therefore higher the peak bone mass lower is the risk of developing osteoporosis.

Deficiency of vitamin D may lower the peak bone mass resulting in osteoporosis. Vitamin D helps the body to absorb calcium. With the low intake of vitamin D, the body cannot absorb adequate amounts of calcium that is required to prevent osteoporosis. Thus deficiency of vitamin D is also considered to be one of the causes of osteoporosis.

In women, a drop in estrogen level during menopause may cause osteoporosis. Estrogen plays a vital role in strengthening the bones by keeping the bone remodeling rates low. The two lines of cells are involved in bone remodeling process, the bone-forming cells called osteoblasts and the bone-eating cells called osteoclasts. A drop in estrogen favors osteoclasts and more bone is lost than what is gained. This results in bone weakening. Thus bone loss due to decreased estrogen production is a leading cause of osteoporosis in menopausal women.

There are many other factors that can cause osteoporosis. Some of them include:

Family History:Women especially having a family history of osteoporosis are at a higher risk of developing osteoporosis.

Poor Eating Habits: A diet low in vitamins (especially vitamin D) and calcium increases the risk of developing osteoporosis.

Heavy Consumption of Alcohol: Excessive consumption of alcohol may also lead to osteoporosis

Amenorrhea: One of the menstration [menstruation] problems, amenorrhea (absence of menstrual periods) can cause osteoporosis in women.

Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy can cause early menopause in women, and menopausal women are more prone to osteoporosis.

Hyperthyroidism: Hyperthyroidism can also be one of the causes of osteoporosis. It is a condition in which excess thyroid hormone is produced by the thyroid gland.

Hyperparathyroidism: Hyperparathyroidism is a condition in which excess parathyroid hormone is produced by the parathyroid gland. The main function of the parathyroid hormone is to maintain the level of calcium in blood by removing calcium from the bone. But excessive production of parathyroid hormone removes excessive calcium from the bone causing osteoporosis.

Osteopororsis Medications:

Long-term use of certain medications like corticosteroids, Phenobarbital, phenytoin and heparin can cause osteoporosis.

Other than these, cigarette smoking, chronic inflammation, lack of exercise, immobility, low body weight, bone cancers and malabsorption can also cause osteoporosis.