Osteoporosis affects millions of people world wide every year. It is found that one in twelve men and one in three women develop one or another form of osteoporosis at some pint of time in their life. In latest study researchers have claimed that drugs that have used by million of people to treat the problem of indigestion and heartburn have been connected to an increased risk of developing bone disease osteoporosis.
The long-lasting use of indigestion drug like proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) is connected to wrecked bones later in life. The patients of indigestion and heartburn should use PPI drugs for two to four weeks. These drugs work by blocking the action of cells known as proton pump that produce stomach acid, suggests The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Even though these drugs are very effective but these should be used only for a short period to get the condition under control. But the patients who suffer from chronic heartburn have to use them daily for two months. The chronic form of heartburn in many patients finishes up only by staying on such drugs permanently to keep symptoms at bay.
It is not clear how the drug of heartburn or indigestion might damage bones. One theory point towards that by blocking the production of acid, they stop the body from engrossing calcium. Two other studies have raised the fear over the effects of drug.
It was found that patients taking PPIs for more than a year were forty-four percent more prone to suffer from a hip fracture, explained experts at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. A similar increase in risk those taking drug regularly for five years, explained a team at the University of Manitoba in Canada in 2008.