The strength and integrity of our bones depends on maintaining the balance between bone resorption and bone formation. After the age of 40, bone destruction begins to exceed bone formation, leading to the local or systemic bone loss known as osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem and, although it occurs most often in women as a result of estrogen deficiency after menopause, it is increasingly recognized that other causes exist and that there is high incidence of osteoporotic fractures in older men.