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There is no cure for osteoporosis, but treatment can slow down the disease

	About 1 in 2 women and 1 in 8 men over 50 will break a bone because of osteoporosis during the rest of their life. Turn to ConsumerReportsHealth.org for sensible suggestions about lifestyle changes that may help prevent osteoporosis.
	Subscribe to ConsumerReportsHealth.org to find out which drugs rate best for treating osteoporosis.

If you have osteoporosis, your bones are thinner and weaker than normal. That means they can break after only a small bump or fall. Osteoporosis is very common in later life. This is because your bones get thinner as you age. And women are more likely to get it than men, because of hormonal changes at menopause that speed up thinning.

There are some good treatments available that can slow down osteoporosis. There are also treatments that can lower your chances of getting osteoporosis if you are especially likely to get it. We've brought together the best research about osteoporosis and weighed the evidence about how to treat it and how to prevent it. You can use our information to talk to your doctor and decide which treatments are best for you.

Key points about osteoporosis

• Most doctors agree that keeping a healthy weight (very thin women are more likely to get the disease), getting regular exercise, and eating healthy foods including plenty of vitamin D and calcium may help prevent osteoporosis.
• If you do have osteoporosis, drugs called alendronate and risedronate work well for osteoporosis. They belong to a group called bisphosphonates. A new drug from the same group is called ibandronate. You take it only once a month.
• If these drugs don't work or you can't take them, other drugs can help. They include raloxifene, teriparatide, strontium ranelate and calcitonin.
• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) probably helps keep your bones strong too, but it has side effects. So doctors don't usually choose it first for osteoporosis.
• Osteoporosis causes more than 1.5 million fractures each year, with fractures of the spine being most common, followed by fractures of the hip, and then fractures of the wrist.

Some illnesses and drugs make it more likely to get osteoporosis at any age. Osteoporosis caused by illness or drugs is called secondary osteoporosis. Illnesses that can cause osteoporosis include eating disorders, celiac disease (where your bowel can’t digest food properly), and hyperparathyroidism. Anticonvulsants (used to treat seizures), corticosteroids (used to treat asthma and rheumatoid arthritis) and heparin (a blood thinner) are among the drugs that can cause osteoporosis.

We encourage you to read our entire condition report and to consult with your doctor to learn more about osteoporosis. As a Consumer Reports Health subscriber, you’ll have access to our expert research and recommendations, and you’ll be more confident and knowledgeable about which treatments are best for you.