Natural remedies for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women

Del Mar, Christopher B; Glasziou, Paul P; Spinks, Anneliese B; Sanders, Sharon L

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2002.tb04351.x

Topics

A 68-year-old woman diagnosed with osteoporosis attended a naturopath, who advised (a) exercise in the gym 2–3 times a week, because "walking wasn't good enough"; (b) natural progesterone cream applied to the skin; (c) oral boron supplements; (d) codliver oil 1000 mg daily; (e) chelated calcium (instead of her current calcium carbonate); and recommended that she stop drinking tea. The patient challenged her general practitioner for not giving the same advice as the naturopath, suggesting he was remiss. Her GP wondered if there was any empirical basis for these recommendations in osteoporotic patients.

Centre for General Practice, Medical School, University of Queensland, Herston, QLD.

Correspondence: c.delmar@cgp.uq.edu.au

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