A 58-year-old active woman has learned that the bone density in her back has slipped to just 87% of normal levels. She takes a wide range of vitamins plus calcium and magnesium and has just started on silica. She would like to avoid taking Fosamax if at all possible. Can anyone offer her advice? Don't take Fosamax! It can have serious side effects because it is chemically bound to protein, it becomes incorporated into the bone itself and blocks bone resorption which is the process by which old, weak bone is removed to make room for new! It also has a 10 to 15 year half-life in the body. Osteoporosis is a metabolic disorder and supplements can help - calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamins D, A, C , K, B6 and exercise. However, menopausal bone loss does accelerate and Prior (Endocrine Reviews, 1990) suggests that bone building cells have progesterone receptors and supplementing with natural progesterone stimulates new bone formation and therefore it can be said that natural progesterone should be beneficial in preventing and treating osteoporosis. A good cream is Pro-Gest, one of only two licensed for prescription in the UK. It's available without a prescription and tax-free from www.pro-gest.co.uk (http://www.pro-gest.co.uk).