That is why the homocysteine levels and B vitamins are linked to OS. The B vitamins assist in bone density, and at the same time lower homocysteine levels. However it is a long-term kind of thing, and the person needs to have had a balanced diet over the years that included all of the food groups. With regards to my brother, he started taking the folic acid and other B vitamins, and the homocysteine levels didn't come down enough. He increased his dosages, the months passed, and the homocysteine levels were still high. Then the brain stem strokes started. He didn't have enough time to get the homocysteines down by adding the B vitamins to his diet before he started experiencing the complications.

It is scary to have OS, or the precursors to OS. I really feel for you. I have been around people who had OS seriously, and when the fractures started, particularly in the spine, the pain was so intense they began to give up on life, and they died within a few years.

It is hard to remember what we were doing when we were in our teens and 20s. Mostly, OS is a function of diet and exercise during those years. How many of us had friends and were around people who were always on a restricted "diet" of some kind, and by restricted I mean major food groups were eliminated entirely or reduced to barely anything, like Atkins. The human body needs complete nutrition. The inner organs need all sorts of nutrients in order to function, particularly the heart. When a person goes on a diet that is too low in calories or is not endorsed by the medical community, and the result is the body doesn't get enough nutrients, then the body will draw the nutrients from the bones in order to keep the organs functioning. People think it is about body weight, that body weight is the indicator of health, and in reality it is the diet and exercise over the long-term that is the real indicator of health.

I was lucky. In my first year of college I took a nutrition course as a science requirement, and the knowledge I gained from that course was invaluable. I am referring to the year 1973 when what we knew about nutrition was much more primitive, but I went through that course and learned that females should never take their calories below 1200, that 1500 is best when dieting, and that one always eats three balanced meals from the all of the food groups. I think taking that course saved me from what so many females do, which is going on 800 calorie a day diets, or going on fad diets that eliminate entire food groups. In the years ahead of us, my prediction is we will see an increase of people with severe OS because of all of the people who have spent long periods of time on Atkins and other non-medically approved restrictive diets, and who thus starved their bodies of essential nutrients.

Darcy