Here’s why osteoporosis is more common in women than in men

Osteoporosis is a disorder where the bones become fragile and can break easily. Before jumping into the main topic let's look at some facts, around 4.3 million people are affected by osteoporosis and among them 94% are females. Woah! isn't that alarming?

But WHY?

To understand this we need to know certain things about our bones. Our bones are made up of Calcium and there are 2 main types of cells OsteoBLAST and OsteoCLAST, they sound similar but their actions are the exact opposite. During the process of “Bone Remodelling” OsteoBLASTs are involved in bone formation means they are responsible for synthesizing and mineralization of the bone, and OsteoCLASTs are responsible for bone resorption which means they have the unique ability to degrade mineralized matrices in the bone. In Short, Osteoblasts Build, and Osteoclasts eat!

Now that you're clear with the basics of bone let's understand WHY?

Estrogen is the sex hormone in females that regulates the process of bone remodeling. It plays a pivotal role in stimulating the action of Osteoblasts thus decreasing bone resorption which ultimately leads to strong and healthy bones. But here's a twist when a woman hits her menopause estrogen level starts declining. Because of decreased levels of estrogen, osteoblast activity decreases, and osteoclast activity accelerates. Due to the imbalance between these two cells, bone breakdown overpowers bone formation which gradually leads to a decrease in bone density ultimately causing osteoporosis. Well, this is the major reason but there could be other reasons as well like treatment with corticosteroids,low calcium diet, genetics, excessive alcohol consumption, lifestyle other underlying medical condition

Though post-menopausal women are at higher risk still we can slow down bone resorption by having a balanced diet, including calcium-rich food, and exercising DAILY.