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Statins, a type of drug taken by 3 million Americans to lower cholesterol levels and prevent heart attacks, have also been shown to reduce the chances of osteoporosis-related bone fractures in postmenopausal women, according to a report released by the National Osteoporosis Foundation on June 28, 2010.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation President C. Conrad Johnston, Jr., M.D., claims that statin studies, “are very promising to future prevention and treatment options for osteoporosis.” The drug reduces the risk of fracture caused by osteoporosis by helping bones to regain some of -its mass, and strength, in many post-menopausal women.

Stains work to lower cholesterol at the cellular level, limiting production of an enzyme that synthesizes cholesterol. According to Doctor, a professor of medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center who was involved in the study, it has been discovered “as a consequence of the same enzyme being inhibited in bone cells, a growth factor is increased that makes bone-forming cells mature.”

The bone-building effect of statins observed in rats also occurs in humans treated with the drug according to a report released in the spring of 2000 from research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. While current treatments for osteoporosis, prevent continued loss of bone mass, statins, which are extracted from a type of yeast, promise to actually increase patients’ bone mass, effectively reversing the damage done by osteoporosis.