We usually think of osteoporosis as a condition that primarily strikes older women as a result of the aging process. However, certain disorders and medications can also lead to bone loss in younger people, both male and female. Two recent studies from the Annals of Internal Medicine show that bone loss is significantly more likely to occur in young men and women suffering from anorexia nervosa or inflammatory bowel disease than in the general population. Researchers evaluated the loss of bone tissue in women with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa by measuring bone mineral density at different regions of the skeleton.
Physicians commonly prescribe estrogen to slow bone loss in postmenopausal women.
Estrogen is also given to women who do not menstruate regularly, which is the case for many women with anorexia. Interestingly, in this study, women who used estrogen experienced the same levels of bone loss as women who did not. The researchers theorized that poor nutrition might decrease the effectiveness of estrogen in preserving bone. The results also showed that current weight, independent of other factors, is the best predictor of bone density in anorectic women. In a separate study, researchers sought to determine the risk of bone fractures associated with osteoporosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.