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Shaping Up Your Bone Health as You Age

05/09/2012 21:08
A handful of the health problems that men and women may be faced as they advance in years reflect their dietary and lifestyle practice, and state of health during their younger years, health experts say.  While there are many uncontrollable factors that may impact a person’s overall health in general, how an individual takes care of his or her body earlier in life are one of the important parameters in shaping future adult health.  Where bone health is concerned, bone mass screenings for early detection has been recommended by many experts for subsequent prevention and treatment.  As a precautionary measure, some doctors prescribe osteoporosis drugs including Fosamax, in younger patients or people determined with osteopenia (lower than normal bone density).  A New York Times blog suggests Fosamax over-prescribed as an osteoporosis treatment as a number of people may have received an “overtreatment” against the debilitating bone disease.

 

Keeping an eye on a person’s bone health, while it sounds so simple, plays a vital role in keeping an individual’s best chance of preventing osteoporosis and other bone-related diseases, health experts say.  People in their younger years, especially between the ages of 12 to 14 years in girls and 13 to 15 years in boys, are encouraged to optimize their peak bone mass as this greatly contributes to bone health throughout adulthood and late life, according to bone experts.  As bones in the body begin to lose mass and weaken as a person ages, stacking up bone mass early in life by optimizing one’s bone-building peak and bone accrual may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and subsequent fractures later in life.  This may be achieved through proper dietary options, including foods or supplements enriched with calcium and vitamin D, and healthy lifestyle choices through regular physical activity, refraining from consuming excessive amounts of alcohol and cigarette smoking.

 

As there are biological and environmental, irrepressible factors that may detrimentally impact bone health, osteoporosis and other muscoskeletal deficiencies may be inevitable in many ageing men and women, medical researchers say.  Available treatments in place including bisphosphonate medications such as Fosamax have been the most utilized treatment in many older men and postmenopausal women.  However, as were other medications, the risk of side effects may also be impending.  Related material found at https://www.fosamaxfemurfracturelawsuit.com may be of assistance to people with great concern and interest as regard Fosamax and related inadvertent effects.

 

URL References:

ehow.com/way_5245078_treatment-osteopenia.html
consumerreports.org/cro/2012/04/popular-osteoporosis-drugs-come-with-mounting-concerns/index.htm
apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/apjcn/volume17/vol17suppl.1/135-137S7-1.pdf
cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/vitamins/calcium.html 

A Short History of Merck & Co.

12/04/2012 03:41

 

Merck & Co. is a very well-known company around the world. Being one of the largest pharmaceutical establishment, it finds out, builds up, make up and sells an extensive range of products to promote human and animal health. However, as profits of the company continue to rise, Merck faces thousands of lawsuits because of some problems concerning their products just like the growing Fosamax issue.  Although there are good news like how Fosamax can help uterine cancer, Merck & Co. is still suffering from several medical blows.
 
Merck & and Co. first saw the light of day way back in 1668 at Darnstadt, Germany when Friedrich Jacob bought a drug store. It took over 2 centuries and several generations before Merck & Co. reached American shores and Merck finally instituted the US branch of the family corporation in New York. At present, the US company has grown larger than its German ancestor with more than 51,000 workers in 120 countries and becoming one of the seven leading pharmaceutical establishments worldwide.
 
Merck also distributes The Merck Manuals, which is a collection of books for medical reference. In the collection is the world’s best-selling medical textbook entitled Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy and a congeries of information about chemical compound known as the Merck Index.
 
Merck & Co.’s annual profits reached more than a billion dollars. On the first quarter of this year alone, Merck said that its profit ($1 billion) has tripled compared from the first quarter sales of 2010.
 

Merck also had a share of bad times. It was in the year 2004 when Vioxx, a drug for arthritis, was discovered to have increased the risks of cardiovascular problems at staggering levels. About 50,000 people have sued Merck claiming that they or their family members have suffered of heart attacks or stroke after taking Vioxx. As a result, Merck proposed to pay almost $5 billion for settlement on the remaining Vioxx lawsuits around November 2007.
 
In the same light, since the previous decade, Fosamax is another drug made by Merck that receives akin discernment due to its association with some bone ailments. Patients tell a myriad of bone illness from the death of a jaw bone also known as osteonecrosis of the jaw to an atypical femur fracture. Fosamax is a bisphosphonate that is the treatment of choice for osteoporosis and Paget’s disease. Currently, many Fosamax cases are still being tried on court. In fact, Merck is currently facing a Fosamax lawsuit.
 
References:
merckgroup.com/en/company/history/history.html
merckmanuals.com/professional/index.html

Things We Need to Know About Osteporosis

02/04/2012 23:55

 

There are already 10 million Americans and maybe 34 million more in the near future to have been affected of the brittle bone disease known as osteoporosis.  In fact, thousands of researches are set out every year in order to discover more about this medical condition. One topic that is sure to top these researches may be about an osteoporosis drug called Fosamax. More issues may come rising as an organization showed concern about generic bisphosphonate.
 
 
femur fracturesThe risk factors for osteoporosis may be modifiable or non-modifiable. Modifiable factors are those that may be changed to improve your well-being while non-modifiable factors are those which could no longer be changed. Despite being irreversible, it is still important to know the unchangeable factors to calculate your own risk of incurring the said illness.
 
Here are the non-modifiable factors of osteoporosis:
 
Gender. Compared to men, women are twice likely to incur the said illness. Men tend to have higher bone mass and slower rate of bone loss than women, hence, they are less inclined to the disease. Still, at least two million male Americans have already acquired the disease.
 
Age. For a certain period, your bone mass remains stable and there is a perfect balance between bone resorption and bone formation. However, as we grow older, bone mass begins to decrease leaning towards osteoporosis. In the case of women, bone loss activates a few years after menopause and the rate gradually increases.
 
Ethnicity. Though all adults may suffer from osteoporosis, Caucasians and Asians are especially more susceptible.
 
Body Type. Osteoporosis seem to pose a bigger threat to people with small and thin figure.
 
Family and personal history. This brittle bone disease seems to run in the family. In addition, a family history of fractures also poses a greater risk of having fractures. Also, people who have obtained a fracture in the past are more likely to endure another fracture than healthy individuals with the same age and sex.
 
If you are a candidate for osteoporosis based on the risk factors mentioned above, it is advised that you ask your doctor about your risk of having such disease. It may be an important factor for you to avoid experiencing femur fractures.
 
References:
mayoclinic.com/health/osteoporosis/DS00128/DSECTION=risk-factors
umm.edu/patiented/articles/who_gets_osteoporosis_000018_5.htm