Calcium, not smoking may limit birth-control bone loss

Injectable birth control is known to lower bone density, but women may be able to limit the loss by not smoking and getting even moderate amounts of calcium, a new study hints.

The findings, say researchers, show that not all women are at equal risk of bone loss from using depot medroxyprogesterone (DMPA) — better known by the brand-name Depo Provera.

DMPA is given by injection about once every three months, and is generally considered an effective, convenient and low-cost form of birth control. The contraceptive can, however, lead to significant bone loss.

While research has shown that this lost bone mass is often regained after women stop using DMPA, there are still concerns about whether substantial bone loss is completely reversible. So limiting the decline in the first place would be ideal.

In the new study, researchers found that among 95 women who used DMPA for two years, those who smoked or had a low calcium intake were at particular risk of significant bone density loss — defined as a decline of at least 5 percent in the spine or hip.

Current smokers were nearly four times more likely to lose that much bone mass as non-smokers were. On the other hand, the risk declined by 19 percent for every 100 milligrams (mg) of calcium a woman got each day.

Drs. Mahbubur Rahman and Abbey B. Berenson, of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, report the findings in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

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