USA - Bone: What Builds it Up, Breaks it Down and Makes it Break?

Epidemiologist, L. Joseph Melton, III, M.D., has a storied history in the field of bone loss epidemiology. His collection of data from residents of Olmsted County, Minn., which determined the incidence, complications and cost of osteoporotic fractures, led to a seminal paper, in 1992, which determined the enormous impact of osteoporosis on public health (Journal of Bone and Mineral Research 7:1005-1010, 1992). Dr. Melton's work also helped provide the basis for the first definition of osteoporosis by the World Health Organization (WHO). Today, he and other members of Mayo's osteoporosis research team are working with WHO to devise better ways to predict fractures. Dr. Melton worked in concert with another pioneer in bone loss, endocrinologist Lawrence Riggs, M.D., whose early work introduced the concept of bone density and its measurement with the first densitometer. Before their work, the increased incidence of bone fractures and stooping was considered a natural consequence of aging rather than a disease. Later studies were the first to show that human bone has estrogen receptors, the first to demonstrate the efficacy of estrogen therapy, and the first to show that the use of fluoride increases bone density but also increases the incidence of fractures due to poor quality of the bone formed.