Researchers may have just dealt a powerful blow in the battle against osteoporosis, the bone-thinning disease that affects 28 million Americans, 50% of women over 50 and 13% of men over 50.

Currently, hormone replacement therapy, which replaces estrogen lost due to menopause, has proven the most effective treatment for osteoporosis. But estrogen increases the risk of cancer and has other side effects.

Now scientists at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have successfully used synthetic molecules to activate bone cells to produce new bone without the use of estrogen. These experiments were conducted in mice, so researchers will need to test the treatment with human cells before new drugs can be developed.

Every year, osteoporosis is a factor in

• 300,000 hip fractures,
• 700,000 spinal fractures,
• 250,000 wrist fractures,
• 300,000 other fractures.