Why are post menopausal women more likely to develop osteoporosis?

Answer 1

Sex hormones, and particularly estradiol (type of estrogen), are necessary in the process of mineralizing the bones. Estradiol is what causes human bones to finish growing, and partly explains why women are shorter. Men produce estradiol too, but as a breakdown product, so the estrogen to signal the end of bone production in boys arrives about 2 years or so after it does in girls. That estrogen spike may also cause breast growth in some boys, and that usually stops on its own. So now that we have established the importance of estrogen in bone production, lets move to the other end of childbearing age.

Throughout a woman's life, the ovaries rupture in places as part of their normal function. In a year's time, maybe over a 1000 egg cells die. While only maybe around 13 or so are directly used in ovulation within that year, the rest are selected out or participate in producing hormones and enzymes. Now a woman already has immature versions of all the egg cells she will release in her entire life. Eventually, 2 things will happen. Then number of viable egg cells will decline and eventually deplete. Also, the ovaries will be completely scarred up from many years of rupturing during ovulation and with the hardening of tissues which occur with age. These changes seem to affect estrogen levels too, and maybe indirectly the body's use of calcium and vitamin D. Men do not have these issues, and their testes can function into their senior years. They sometimes could use hormone replacement too.

According to Dr. Susan Love, the ovaries still produce some hormones even after menopause, and that they may produce more androgens than estrogen. So a woman who suffers surgical menopause because of ovarian pain, cancer, or other problems, she will have an even harder time with hot flashes and bone loss.

Answer 2

they lose bone mass more rapidly after menopause (usually around age 50), when they stop producing a bone-protecting hormone called estrogen. In the five to seven years following menopause, women can lose about 20% of their bone mass

Answer 3

Postmenopausal women are more prone to fractures due to the decrease in estrogen levels. The condition commonly attached to weak bones is call osteoporosis.