Fosamax and Actonel Not the Answer for Bones

Having weak bones is a serious concern to health. In the case of bone loss, drug companies who seek to use pharmaceuticals as prevention or treatment see the baby boomers, especially baby boomer women, as a target market. Alarm bells should be going off at the FDA as bone drugs Fosamax and Actonel prove to be ineffective at building strong bones. Whom can a one really trust anymore?

Fosamax and Actonel are in a class of drugs known as bisphosphonates. The goal of these bone drugs is to kill off osteoclasts, the demo crew inside bones. Osteoblasts remove old, stressed pieces of bone so that they can be removed and replaced with new bone built by osteoblast cells in normal growth, maintenance, and healing of bone. Osteoclasts are essential for normal bone function and healing.

The hope is that killing off osteoclasts will slow bone loss enough to give osteoblasts a chance to catch up and strengthen bones. This makes sense in theory but may actually be just wishful thinking. If you want to have healthy bones it is best to focus on bone strength, not just bone density. Thicker bones made up of old, damaged bones may not actually make strong, healthy bones.