Osteoporosis & Menopause

Last time I checked, I was 23. My roommates in Banff, Alberta made me a birthday cake with the numbers crafted from Smarties on top of vanilla icing. When did I become a 54-year-old in menopause with osteoporosis?

Since this is the largest population with the condition, let’s get into it. We may need 2 or 3 blog posts to do justice to this subject. And, frankly, menopause deserves the air time.

Photo by Darina Belonogova on Pexels.com

So, what about osteoporosis and menopause?

Your bones are living tissue. They are constantly repairing and renewing themselves. Estrogen controls this cycle by managing two different types of bone cells:

Osteoclasts (these cells break down and remove old bone tissue). Estrogen keeps them in check. And osteoblasts (these cells create new tissue). Estrogen keeps them active and helps them survive longer.

It seems like a simple math equation:

U – estrogen = more clasts and less blasts.

U + estrogen = less clasts and more blasts (or at least more stable numbers)

Is it just me, or does “blast” sound like it should be the destructive one? Of course, I’m simplifying a rather complex process above.

Osteoporosis Canada mentions the importance of the first 10 years post-menopause:

“The drop in estrogen during menopause speeds up bone loss. Estrogen is essential for bone health because bone cells have estrogen receptors. Bone is constantly being renewed in a process called remodeling. Old bone is broken down by cells called osteoclasts while new bone is built by osteoblasts. Estrogen plays an important role in keeping this process in balance. When estrogen levels drop at menopause, bone breakdown speeds up and bone building is not able to keep up leading to bone loss.

Bone loss starts during perimenopause, but the greatest decline occurs in the first 10 years after the final menstrual period. After that, the rate of loss slows but continues over time. Women who enter menopause early or prematurely start losing bone at a younger age, leaving them at greater risk of low bone density and fractures later in life.” 2

But estrogen does more than manage osteoclasts and blasts.

Estrogen and silicon interact synergistically to protect and build bone mineral density. We get silicon from food, certain beverages and supplements.

Let’s look closer at silicon and bone health in this 2007 article in PubMed:

“…the main and most important source of exposure to silicon is from the diet and recently two cross-sectional epidemiological studies from our group have reported that dietary silicon intake is associated with higher bone mineral density (BMD). In the Framingham Offspring cohort we reported that higher intake of dietary silicon was significantly positively associated with BMD at the hip sites of men and pre-menopausal women, but not in post-menopausal women.” 3

Well, that’s fascinating and peculiar. Why did silicon improve bone density in everyone but post-menopausal women? The article continues:

“This study was repeated using the APOSS (Aberdeen Prospective Osteoporosis Screening Study) cohort, a women only cohort, and it similarly showed that dietary silicon intake was significantly positively associated with BMD at the hip and spine of pre-menopausal women. We also showed a similar correlation in post-menopausal women but only in those currently on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).”

“…only in those currently on hormone replacement therapy.”

A 2017 study did show positive effects of silicon in conjunction with a phytoestrogen (plant compound similar to human estrogen) supplement on bone density. Though, sadly, it was on rats. I do wish they’d stop testing on animals. 4

It likely inspires the method herbalists use when cycling through herbal infusions for bone health (we’ll get into this in another post): Red clover, oatstraw, nettles. The clover provides the phytoestrogens and the plants provide the silicon and other minerals. More on that later. (Sips her oatstraw tea).

Here’s the takeaway for now:

Silicon without estrogen appears to be like handing someone excellent building materials with no one on-site to direct construction. So if you’re post-menopausal, silicon supplementation on its own may not do much for your bones — which is exactly why what’s happening hormonally in those first 10 years matters so much more than what’s on your plate.

“The greatest decline occurs in the first 10 years after the final menstrual period.”

This is the little piece of trivia I wish I’d known. Maybe they should’ve taught it in biology class. Maybe they did but I was young and invincible and didn’t care at the time.

If you’re in that 10-year window right now, you’re perfectly positioned to protect and promote your bone health.

I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops. The ten years after menopause are bone health years! Because ten years can fly by in the blink of an eye.

Remember… it was just yesterday that 23-year-old-me cut into that Smartie-topped cake.

Much love,

Stephanie

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