[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/osteoporosis\/osteoporosis-2020\/#Article","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/osteoporosis\/osteoporosis-2020\/","headline":"Dr. Susan Brown\u2019s 2020 Predictions\u00a0For Bone Health","name":"Dr. Susan Brown\u2019s 2020 Predictions\u00a0For Bone Health","description":"Print PDF eBook Facebook Twitter Gmail LinkedIn Pinterest It’s time to polish up my crystal ball and make my 2020 predictions for osteoporosis and your bone health! With so much new research to draw from, I see a year filled with bone health advancements. Take a look at what I think will become true in […]","datePublished":"2019-12-30","dateModified":"2026-04-22","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/#Person","name":"Dr. Susan E. Brown, PhD","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/author\/brownbetterbonesgmail-com\/","identifier":72,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e08d87bd45250c6616e1752933a6576aba077f335d97ee337a0cde5e435cbd3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Center for Better Bones","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Better-Bones-AMP.png","width":150,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/osteoporosis-2020-BB-Blog-12-19-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/osteoporosis-2020-BB-Blog-12-19-1.jpg","height":1256,"width":2400},"url":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/osteoporosis\/osteoporosis-2020\/","about":["Osteoporosis"],"wordCount":1351,"articleBody":" Print PDF eBook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwitter\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGmail\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinterest\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt’s time to polish up my crystal ball and make my 2020 predictions for osteoporosis and your bone health! With so much new research to draw from, I see a year filled with bone health advancements. Take a look at what I think will become true in 2020 for osteoporosis, fracture risk assessment, bone health nutrition — and much more.Table of ContentsToggle     6 Minutes ReadPrediction: Osteoporosis will no longer be diagnosed through bone density testing\u00a0Prediction: Osteoporosis stem cell therapy will surface\u00a0Prediction: Alterations in gut microbiome will be fully documented to enhance bone strength\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: The Australian Bone Clinic will scientifically prove that older women can reverse osteoporosis\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: Personalized multiple risk factor assessment will become the most accurate way to predict real fracture risk.\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: Doctors will begin recommending their patients supplement with a wide range of bone building nutrients, not just calcium and vitamin D\u00a0Prediction: China will be recognized as the world\u2019s leader in osteoporosis research\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: The \u201credistribution of bone\u201d phenomenon will see the light of day\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: Doctors will be required to tell patients of the \u201cNumber Needed to Treat\u201d when prescribing a bone drug\u00a0Prediction: Bone quality will be found more important than bone density\u00a0Futuristic prediction for the new decade\u2026\u00a0\u00a0Prediction: Osteoporosis will no longer be diagnosed through bone density testing\u00a0Thoughtful doctors will move away from using the infamous bone density -2.5 T score for deciding who has osteoporosis. \u00a0This change will stem from a growing awareness that most osteoporotic fractures occur in people who have\u00a0osteopenia\u00a0or even normal bone density.\u00a0 Scientists will scramble to set new criteria for the diagnosis of fragile bones.\u00a0Caution alert: You will see a move toward using CT scans to assess bone strength and diagnosis osteoporosis.\u00a0 Think twice about this as CT scans expose involve high levels of DNA damaging radiation.Prediction: Osteoporosis stem cell therapy will surface\u00a0Stem cells are cells with the potential to develop into many different types of cells. Mesenchymal stem cells are important to bone as they can develop into bone-building osteoblasts (favoring development of bone strength) or bone marrow fat cells (which weaken bone). You will be hearing of important plant compounds which influence these mesenchymal stem cells to morph into bone- building osteoblasts rather than bone-damaging bone marrow fat.\u00a0Curcumin, quercetin, vitamin C (ascorbate), resveratrol, olive and green tea compounds will be used to favorably activate these stem cells.\u00a0Prediction: Alterations in gut microbiome will be fully documented to enhance bone strength\u00a0\u00a0Scientists have already documented that those with fragile bones have altered gut microflora. The next step will be to identify which type and what balance of microflora serve to reduce bone loss and strengthen the skeleton.\u00a0Prediction: The Australian Bone Clinic will scientifically prove that older women can reverse osteoporosis\u00a0\u00a0The myth that older women cannot regain lost bone mass is about to be busted in a big way by female scientists \u201cdown–under\u201d.\u00a0 The Australian Bone Clinic will lead the way documenting that with just 2 weekly sessions of well supervised high impact strength training older women can build bone strength and reverse osteoporosis.\u00a0Keep an eye of the clinic’s work.\u00a0Prediction: Personalized multiple risk factor assessment will become the most accurate way to predict real fracture risk.\u00a0\u00a0The \u201cone size fits all\u201d approach to predicting fractures by T score is clearly ineffective.\u00a0 In its place you will see individualized multiple risk factor assessment.\u00a0 As osteoporosis authority Dr. Robert Cummings documented decades ago, the vast majority of osteoporotic fractures occur in a small percentage of individuals exhibiting a high number of bone-depleting risk factors. Interested in assessing your total load of fracture risk factors?\u00a0 Consider\u00a0taking\u00a0the new Better Bones quiz.Prediction: Doctors will begin recommending their patients supplement with a wide range of bone building nutrients, not just calcium and vitamin D\u00a0Daily we see new research detailing the vast nutrient influences on bone health.\u00a0 For example, a recent scientific review article detailed\u00a016 nutrients as key for bone health.\u00a0One day soon mainstream researchers will catch up with us and recommend appropriate levels of all the 20 essential bone-building nutrients\u00a0\u00a0we identified 2 decades ago.\u00a0Prediction: China will be recognized as the world\u2019s leader in osteoporosis research\u00a0\u00a0China\u2019s need to prevent fracture among its massive and ever-increasing aging population will stimulate an impressive burst of osteoporosis research. Their research will be all encompassing including validation of traditional Chinese herbal formulas and acupuncture for osteoporosis, Qi Gong and Tai Chi to reduce fracture risk, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy and vibration platform therapy for bone, as well as bone drug development.\u00a0Prediction: The \u201credistribution of bone\u201d phenomenon will see the light of day\u00a0\u00a0Quite by chance a handful of researchers have detected a phenomenon by which both weight lifters and water polo athletes gain bone mass in many parts of the body but lose mass in other part of the skeleton.\u00a0 They detected that with loading exercise bone can be redistributed. For example, both male and female weightlifters have been found to gain bone mass in hips and arms, but lose bone mass in the skull. Specifically, male weightlifters were found to have 3% higher bone density in the total body and 10% higher hip density, yet their skull bone was 10% less dense than that of non-athletes. Female weight lifters also build substantial bone in the total body and hip yet had 7% less skull bone density than controls.Similarly, water polo athletes were found to undergo a redistribution of bone mass from the lower limbs to the upper limbs.\u00a0 The same redistribution of bone can occur when using bone drugs.\u00a0 For example, it was recently reported that recombinant human parathyroid hormone drugs (Forteo\u00ae) increased bone density of the lumbar spine, but reduce bone density of the hip.Prediction: Doctors will be required to tell patients of the \u201cNumber Needed to Treat\u201d when prescribing a bone drug\u00a0The \u201cNumber Needed to Treat\u201d is a calculation that reveals how many people need to be treated with a particular drug to see the claimed benefit. Recently the Journal of the American Medical Association mentioned that the \u201cNumber Needed to Treat\u201d for bisphosphonate drugs like Fosamax and Reclast was 77.\u00a0 Specifically, it was reported that 77 women had to be treated for 3 years with these bone drugs to prevent one single hip fracture. Even worse, an international study I reported on earlier found that 175 postmenopausal women with bone fragility had to be treated for 3 years with bisphosphonates to prevent one single hip fracture.\u00a0In other words, imagine you go to the dentist with a tooth ache, finding decay he says, \u201cI recommend this new dental filling, serious side effects have been reported, but I really like it, and one out of even just 77 people will find it stops future decay in this tooth.\u00a0Tip:\u00a0When bone drugs are recommended, ask your doctor to give you the \u201cNumber Needed to Treat\u201d and to show you the research documenting this.\u00a0 Remember that those with the most risk factors stand to benefit the most from bone drugs.\u00a0Prediction: Bone quality will be found more important than bone density\u00a0Realizing that bone density does not accurately predict fracture, scientists will expand their search for non-invasive says to measure bone quality and strength. Muscle mass and strength will be proved to reflect bone strength better than current bone density testing.\u00a0Also novel techniques will be developed to assess quality of the living bone protein matrix. Among other things, skin ultrasound will be used as a markers of bone collagen maturity and connective tissue health \u00a0Futuristic prediction for the new decade\u2026\u00a0\u00a0The 2020\u2019s will witness a mass awakening of human consciousness creating an appreciate for the dignity and oneness of all humanity and a demand for protection for our natural environment, our Mother Earth.\u00a0\u00a0Let’s see what comes true and please know that I am wishing you an abundance of peace, happiness and great blessing for improved bone health in 2020 — and beyond! – Dr. Susan BrownTo build bone through movement, explore the Better Bones Exercise for Osteoporosis program."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Osteoporosis","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/osteoporosis\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dr. Susan Brown\u2019s 2020 Predictions\u00a0For Bone Health","item":"https:\/\/betterbones.com\/osteoporosis\/osteoporosis-2020\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]