Hormones such as parathyroid and vitamins such as vitamin D control the level of calcium in bone. Cortisone from the adrenal glands and medicines containing cortisone drugs cause loss of calcium from bones. Growth hormone increases the collagen supporting tissue of bone. What this adds up to is that the constant remodeling of bone is the sum of the interaction of hormones and mechanical stresses of life on the basic growth centers of bones. It is a constant, dynamic equilibrium.
Osteoporosis is the excessive loss of calcium and matrix of bone.
It is sometimes noticed because the person shows reduced height or a humping of the back, or suffers from low back pain. Dr. Bevra Hahn and her husband, Dr. Theodore Hahn, medical researchers of osteoporosis for many years, point out that bone loss begins as early as twenty years old and is over three times greater in women than in men. Osteoporosis is a serious problem to be reckoned with among older folks. About 25 million people in our country are afflicted, most of whom are women. One reason that men have less osteoporosis than women is that men have more total bone mass.