The US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released the new dietary guidelines for 2025-2030.  Like so many government guidelines, there seems to be some good updates and some not so good.  This mixed bag of good/bad relates to the relationship between the food industry with one […]

Osteoporosis is a complex disease caused by a progressive imbalance in the activity of the cells involved in bone remodeling. Bone remodeling is the process of repairing wear related microcracks in bone.  This occurs in 10% of bone each year with the entire skeleton being rebuilt every decade.  Resident bone cells called osteocytes are sensitive at […]

Osteoporosis is a disease involving weakening of bone increasing the risk of fragility fracture or fractures from insignificant trauma.  This weakening is estimated by measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) on a DEXA scan.  On these scans the BMD is reported as a T score, or the standard deviations in BMD compared to healthy 30 […]

It has been well known that lack of weight bearing stimulus to bone over time causes bone mineral density loss (BMD).  Typically, early research on disease uses animal models.  In osteoporosis research a question might be, where do they get mice with osteoporosis to test a particular treatment.  The answer is that they simply create […]

Osteoporosis is a complex disease of aging.  Complex means it isn’t caused by “A” but rather it is by “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”.  To further complicate this, one patient may have the disease caused by 20% A, 70% C and 10% D while in another patient, it is caused by 60% A, 30% B […]

There has been a wealth of discussion within the health care community about the adverse effects of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).  Recent studies have shown the link between higher consumption of UPFs to some of the most prevalent health problems such as obesity and diabetes.   It seems that these foods are “engineered” to allow their […]

A new study examined living near a golf course and the risk of Parkinson’s disease.  The study based their data on the disease from the Rochester Epidemiology Project.  Compared to those living more than 6 miles from a golf course, those living within 1 mile had a 126% increased risk.  The authors comment on several […]

LDL cholesterol tends to be looked at as “the problem” regarding vascular disease risk.  In reality, it is only part of the risk.  What is more important than simply LDL levels is the size of the particles.  Two persons with the “same” LDL level can have very different vascular disease risks. The LDL listed on […]

Modern humans have always had the belief, conscious or subconscious, that they could lead a less-than-optimal lifestyle and yet health care could prevent the ill effects.  This is particularly true thinking about medical care.  Why eat an optimal diet when the unhealthy food is so good?  Exercise is more effort than I want to put […]

The most common drugs used for pain and inflammation are the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen.  It is estimated that some 30 billion doses of these drugs are consumed each year in the U.S.  A growing body of research is suggesting that these drugs may actually increase the bone loss associated with osteoporosis.  It […]