Osteoporosis, at the end of the 1990s, affects 25 million people in the United States, and as the baby boomers enter their 50s, this bone-weakening disease is poised to strike millions more. Because of this disease, many older people will suffer from a bone fracture at some point, and far too many of these fractures will result in permanent disability. The good news is that this devastating silent epidemic is entirely preventable, and in this text, readers of all ages should find everything they need to know to slow, stop, and even reverse the bone loss that causes this crippling disease. Written by Dr. Nancy E. Lane, an investigator and clinician in the field of osteoporosis, it is a guide to the exciting medical breakthroughs that have taken place in the 1990s - in bone density measurement, in oestrogen therapy, and in our knowledge of the bone cycle - that now allow doctors to predict who is at risk and to monitor these individuals in their 50s, before a fracture occurs. Readers learn to evaluate - and whenever possible, eliminate - the risk factors in their own lives.