Alternative Treatments for Osteoporosis in Postmenopausal Women - A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Many postmenopausal women desire non-pharmaceutical alternatives to bisphosphonates for the treatment of osteoporosis and prevention strategies against osteoporosis. Although highly effective in the treatment of osteoporosis, bisphosphonates have a serious side effect profile. These side effects limit the use and duration of bisphosphonates for the treatment of osteoporosis, thus revealing the need for alternative therapies for osteoporosis. Methods: The systematic review was conducted by searching the electronic database of PubMed/MEDLINE using the MeSH terms “postmenopausal osteoporosis” and “vitamins” from January 1961 to April 2019. The review included randomized controlled trials that studied the effects of vitamin supplementation on bone turnover markers and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with or without osteoporosis. The articles selected for use in this review were assessed for quality using an assessing instrument developed by Jadad et al (1). Results: Twelve articles were included in the final systematic review. These studies showed that vitamin supplements, soy isoflavones, or probiotics decreased the measured markers of bone turnover in studies with a treatment period ranging from 84 days to 48 months. Discussion: Supplementation with probiotic supplements, folic acid, vitamin K, calcium, and phytochemicals with vitamins D and K are shown to be beneficial to bone health with evidence that bone turnover markers are decreased in these treatment groups, although these findings demonstrate that vitamin or probiotic supplementation are not effective in increasing bone mineral density.