Osteoporosis and lack of dietary calcium known as osteomalacia defined
Normally there is a decline in bone mass after the age of forty in both sexes (about two percent loss per year), but women are at a much greater risk for osteoporosis because of lower bone density prior to age forty.
Osteoporosis involves both the mineral (inorganic) and non mineral (organic matrix, composed primarily of protein) components of bone. This is the first clue that there is more to osteoporosis than a lack of dietary calcium. In fact, lack of dietary calcium in the adult results in separate condition known as osteomalacia, or “softening of the bone.” The two conditions osteomalacia and osteoporosis, are different in that in osteomalacia there is only a deficiency of calcium in the bone. In contrast, in osteoporosis there is a lack of both calcium and other minerals, as well as a decrease in the nonmineral framework (organic matrix) of the bone. Little attention has been given to the important role that this organic matrix plays in maintaining bone structure.