The Myth of Osteoporosis: What Every Woman Should Know about Creating Bone Health

by Gillian Sanson

Book Overview

"What every woman should know about creating bone health"--Cover. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972123342
• ISBN13: 9780972123341
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: MCD Century Publications
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.77 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

If you only read one book on osteoporosis, make it this one!

If you are thinking about reading this book, you probably recently got a diagnosis of "osteopenia" or "osteoporosis" via a DEXA scan, and your doctor is urging you to take drugs to "heal" your "disease." If so, this well-written, well-researched and well-annotated book can be invaluable to you in making an informed decision about a medical choice that could affect your health--and your pocketbook--the rest of your life. Some of the most important insights this book offers in that direction are the following: First, since there is no consistent, world-wide standard for determining what is "normal" bone density for either females or males, it is a crapshoot as to what standard any given maker of a DEXA machine will employ to measure your bones against--and therefore a crapshoot as to what diagnosis you might get, whether "normal" or "diseased." Second, there seems to be no consideration in the prevailing standard of care for creating and interpreting DEXA results of these crucial concepts about bone health: (a) Loss of bone density is a normal aspect of growing older and for the vast majority of people, it will never either cause or contribute to bone disease. (b) Virtually every adult over the age of 30 who succumbs to a doctor's urging to have a DEXA scan will be declared either imminently "diseased" (osteopenia) or outright "diseased" (osteoporosis) for the simple reason that it is not normal for anyone over 30 to have the bones of someone in their 20's. And certainly not to have the bones of young elite athletes--a comparison group too often held as the "norm" by DEXA machine manufacturers. (c) The definition of true osteoporosis is a disease of poor quality bones in which the internal, inter-linked trabecular structure of the bone has eroded to such an extent that the bones are subject to fracture from low-force impact. A case of true osteoporosis is sometimes extreme enough to reveal itself on a regular high-radiation x-ray, but, unfortunately, it will never show up via a low-radiation DEXA scan. This is because the DEXA is incapable of identifying anything other than raw bone mass AKA "bone mineral density" or BMD. It cannot inform the physician about the micro-architecture of bone, its crystal size and shape, the degree of brittleness, the state of the connectivity of the trabecular network, the vitality of the bone cells, the ability to repair micro-cracks, or the structure of the bone proteins--there is currently no medical test that can do that. (d) As the book emphasizes again and again: BMD is only one of multiple symptoms of the disease of osteoporosis--not the disease itself. If the author's assertion about BMD is true, you might well wonder why the World Health Organization (WHO) in the not-so-distant past altered its official definition of osteoporosis to a low BMD score on a DEXA test. The author wondered, too, and her research uncovered that this change came about due to successful lobbying of WHO by Big Pharma. She also discov

Thank you Gillian Sanson

If you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis and given a prescription for fosamax or actonel or any other type of medication, please read this book first. Your instincts are right. You don't need it. It won't help, and most likely it will cause harm over time. Menopausal women bring in millions of dollars to the pharmaceutical companies around the world. We are easy prey, because we are being told that aging is a disease and we believe it. This book is worth every penny. You will be glad you read it.

this book is groundbreaking

I really enjoyed this book. Excellent. Its good to see research being put out there for someone like myself to read so I can understand what I can do for my health and whether I should be worrying about my bones disintegrating if I dont drink gallons of milk each day. I am glad to find that I can relax and eat a healthy balanced diet. I always was suspicious of the drugs offered to help prevent osteoporosis because of the side-effects. Its kind of a relief to know that I can continue to eat well and keep fit and working out, and that this will be beneficial for my bones - help me stay in one piece. I am tired of the fear that is induced by faulty informtion about 'diseases' part of which is fictional and created by drug companies for their own financial purposes.So I am grateful to a book that provides some clarity about the actual disease of 'osteoporosis' and also gives solid ideas of what to do to keep bones healthy.

This is a great book

This is a great book, I found it really interesting and well researched which is important for a book that is challenging what seem to be widely held beliefs (or "myths") about osteoporosis. I know of many women who have felt confused about osteoporosis and who have even taken medication (HRT etc) to prevent it, but in doing so seem to experience serious side-effects. Its a good feeling to read this book and to reaffirm that one can do so much oneself to stay healthy and to gain optimum bone strength and integrity (even while aging). I am a Physical Therapist and I would recommend this book to everyone, it provides information and practical knowledge on how to maintain bone health.