Years ago, we would spot osteoporosis on an x ray and it would tell us that certain people are prone to having possible problems with fractures. Hip fractures in the elderly can be devastating. Earlier generations in many ways were less active in retirement ( I remember my grandmother and her card games as activities vs. my parents who played tennis and go to the gym.). We had less sophisticated tools to look at this such as x rays vs. our Dexxa Scanners that are much more sensitive to detecting early bone loss. The drug companies worked on medications they could sell us as being preventative for bone loss when loss was occurring as per these very sensitive scanners and they sold doctors on the idea through their drug reps. Many people now found their doctors managing their health by the numbers on the scan. I have seen hundreds of people who were placed on these drugs to prevent the yet disease (the one that did not happen or may never happen yet). Many of our patients who went on these drugs promptly went off when the side effects hit. I am sure these numbers are underreported. The bottom line is that this is clearly interventional, not preventative and dispite the billions made by the drug companies on this supposedly preventative health regimen, in the end, it is side effects, over doctoring and then having pecuilar types of fractures that may not have occurred if you were not on the drug.
I have a better protocol; Stay active, eat right and play the odds (very few people actually have problems related to osteoporosis when considering the entire populace) In other words, leave it alone.
What do you think? As always, I value your opinion