Osteoporosis: A disease that causes thousands of men to break bones each year

In women, the loss of Bone quality is very noticeable after menopause, because the level of the hormone estrogen, which has a protective effect on bones, decreases.

But even though men do not have a sudden loss of this hormone, they face the problem of broken bones more than we know.

Osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in bone mass and deterioration of bone architecture and quality.

These changes increase the fragility of bones and cause a greater risk of fractures, especially in some specific areas of our bones, such as the hip, spine and wrist.

It is estimated that the disease causes more than 9 million fractures a year worldwide, but the number of people affected is much higher, around 200 million.

Affected people are often overlooked because it is often an asymptomatic disease that causes our bones to deteriorate without warning signs until the fracture condition first appears.

But why do we lose bone mass?

Throughout life, our bones go through cycles of remodeling or bone remodeling, where "old" or damaged bone tissue breaks down and is replaced with new ones, capable of withstanding all the challenges we put our bones through every day.

The problem is that, over the years, this process of replacing the old tissue becomes poor, and the cells responsible for bone formation cannot compensate for the loss of the removed bone.

As a result, we lose the quantity and quality of bone tissue as part of the natural aging process.

For men too

The problem is not only female. It is true that for women the loss of bone quality is very evident after menopause, a phase that marks a rapid decline in the production of estrogen, the female sex hormone.

These hormones provide an important protective effect against the loss of bone mass, and their decrease at the beginning of menopause also causes a sudden drop in bone mass.

However, about 25% of osteoporotic fractures occur in men. Importantly, complications and mortality associated with this condition are greater in men than in women.

In fact, it is estimated that every year around 80,000 men break their hip, with one in three dying in the first year and many more breaking again.

Despite these data, osteoporosis in men is not recognized and therefore, often, is not treated. Sometimes health professionals are not sufficiently aware of the fact that osteoporosis can affect men, which contributes to delaying its diagnosis.

The maximum bone mass is reached during the third decade of life, between the ages of 20 and 30. And since then, we begin to lose bone tissue.

However, for men this peak is reached later, as they enter puberty later and stay there longer than women.

In addition, androgens, male sex hormones, increase bone density, which is an inevitable benefit.

Another important point is that in men there is no sudden loss of sex hormones, as happens in women after menopause: the decline of male hormones occurs gradually from the fourth or fifth decade of life.

Later it gets worse

All these factors cause men to develop osteoporosis at least ten years later than women.

This fact contributes to the increased severity and risk of death after a fracture, among other things because with aging there is also a condition of chronic low-level inflammation that accelerates the process of bone destruction, thus increasing the risk of fracture and causing difficulty in making it.

With age, vitamin D deficiency also increases, the basic hormone for minerals and bone quality, and muscle function decreases.

Abuse of alcohol or continued treatment with glucocorticoids used as anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive drugs, the process is further accelerated.

At this point, we must know that the quality of our bones has a direct impact on our health. Therefore, everyone, whether male or female, should be concerned about taking care of bones above all else, eating a variety of foods rich in iron and vitamin D, reducing alcohol consumption and avoiding tobacco.