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How Osteoporosis Drugs Really Work 
You may have seen Sally Field on television talking about how Boniva is protecting her bone health and recommending that you ask your doctor about it. Before you take Sally's advice, you should get the information on what Boniva actually does.
What the heck are bisphosphonates anyway?
The active ingredients in Boniva (and other drugs of this class like Actonel and Fosomax) are called bisphosophonates. They were originally used in industrial chemical compounds including corrosion prevention agents, laundry soaps and fertilizer. Taking Boniva and drugs like it is like building a house on an old, weak frame with holes in the boards. You can nail new timbers onto the frame and add new siding. It will look great...for awhile. Over time you will end up with a heap of expensive siding collapsed on broken boards.
Although bone seems like hard, unchanging material, the truth is, bone is living tissue. Your body is constantly breaking down old bone cells and replacing them with brand new cells to keep your bones strong and healthy. Boniva and other drugs in its class work by stopping old bone from being broken down. Initially, this makes bones denser and stronger. However, the foundation of the bone becomes fragile. This fragile foundation leads to more fractures.
So-called Bone-Health Drugs can actually cause fractures
Not only do these drugs not help, they do harm. Boniva has actually caused the jaw bone to die in some patients! It also increases the risk of fracturing your thigh bone, the thickest bone in your body. Does that sound like bone protection to you? These drugs are also very irritating to the esophagus and can cause serious problems for the whole digestive system.
[Update: I wrote this article last month to include in our September Spine and Joint Health series because I thought it was important information for your health. But now even the FDA has jumped on the bandwagon to warn of the dangers of these drugs. On Friday, September 9th an FDA panel voted 17-6 to change the labels on this class of drugs to include links to femur fractures, jaw bone death and possibly cancer.]
The moral of this story is, although we may have loved Sally Field in the Flying Nun and Gidget, she may not be the best source for health information.
The best way to protect your bone health is by improving the body's own ability to manufacture bone tissue and absorb nutrients through a healthy diet and whole food supplementation.
Proper nutrition is Mother Nature's
answer for healthy bones
 As women, it is vital that we get our body's organ and hormone systems functioning properly as early in our lives as possibble so we ensure proper bone and spine health our whole lives. Severe bone loss and osteoperosis is not a foregone conclusion, there is a lot you can do and Mother Nature does have the answers.
Ask any of our Practitioners for the best way to ensure your bone health at your next visit.
Yours In Health,
Dr. Amanda
Wholistic Pharmacist
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