Osteoporosis took center stage Monday at a lecture as part of Womyn’s Month 2000.Brenda Rizzo, a clinical nurse specialist at the National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health at Ohio State Medical Center, spoke to students about the disease at the Ohio Union as part of the Soup and Substance series celebrating Womyn’s Month 2000.”Osteoporosis is a disease of adolescence that doesn’t appear until after menopause,” Rizzo said.Osteoporosis is characterized by a loss of bone mass and bone tissue, weakening the bones to the point where a sudden strain, bump or fall could cause a bone fracture. It primarily strikes women.According to Rizzo, osteoporosis affects 25 million Americans, 80 percent of which are women. The disease is responsible for 1.5 million fractures annually, primarily in the hip, wrist and spine.”A woman’s risk of developing osteoporosis is greater than the combined risk of developing breast cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer,” she said.However, osteoporosis is not only a woman’s disease, Rizzo said. By the age of 75, one-third of all men have osteoporosis.Certain risk factors make a person more likely to develop osteoporosis, she said. These include family history, cigarette smoking and lack of sun exposure.One way to combat bone loss is by increasing one’s calcium intake, Rizzo said.People between the ages of 11 and 24 should consume 1,200 to 1,500 milligrams of calcium every day, she said.”Calcium is the building blocks for your bones; it is vital,” Rizzo said.She suggests calcium supplements or a change of diet to include more calcium-rich foods, including dairy products, dark green leafy vegetables and salmon.Caffeine and the phosphates in dark-colored sodas, especially diet sodas, slow the absorption of calcium by the body, she said.Students, who typically consume a lot of caffeine, may feel they should make up for the loss of calcium, but Rizzo warned not to increase daily calcium intake to more than 1,500 milligrams because this could result in other disorders, such as kidney stones.Another treatment for osteoporosis is with a drug such as Fosomax or Alendronate. This drug is currently the only choice for both prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, she said.