Skeletal Renewal and Metabolic Bone Disease

THE skeleton, containing 99 per cent of the total body calcium, serves two major functions, First of all, it plays an important part in calcium homeostasis, both responding to and contributing to changes in calcium metabolism. Secondly, the structural integrity of the skeleton is essential for normal existence. Fractures, by far the most important abnormality of the skeletal system, occur with increasing frequency in the elderly because of decreasing strength of the skeleton. This weakness is due largely to a reduction in skeletal mass caused by an imbalance between the formation and the resorption of bone. Throughout life, even after . . .