Regarding your question, “ Can osteoporosis be reversed in post menopausal women (with no secondary medical issues) through diet and exercise?” There is no simple answer. Osteoporosis is never said to be gone, meaning even if you are able to reverse your bone loss, you are still considered to have the condition.

Although, where you start comes in to play, I believe in the theory that, yes, ppl can reverse bone loss via diet and exercise. I’m not sure why you excluded ppl with secondary conditions because ppl with Celiac, can potentially reverse osteoporosis via diet and exercise once they have eliminated gluten from their diets.

You should look up Mira and Jason Calton. Mira was diagnosed w/ osteoporosis in her 30s and through diet and exercise she reversed her bone loss. You should also look up the LIFTMOR study and the Australian Bone Clinic, they work with women, many who are in their 70s and 80s, and are able to help reverse bone loss naturally.

If you go to http://www.BetterBones.com and on that site search for “Cindi’s Story” you will learn how the one post-menopausal woman was able to reverse her bone loss w/o osteo-meds. Note, she did do HRT (hormone replacement therapy).

The biggest issue is your starting point. I had my 1st DEXA in July 2019 at age 50 and my lumbar t-score was -3.9, that’s basically 39% less bone than the average 30 y.o. (I have no fragility fractures). To get back to a -1 t-score, which would put me in the normal range, I would have to increase my BMD by approximately 47.6%.

Although we would all like to think that one day our t-scores will be on the plus-side, the real goal for those with osteoporosis is 1. not to fracture 2. not to lose more bone. Just keeping your BMD where it is today is a win. Even slowing bone loss is a win.

One simple thing that you can start immediately to help your bones is to end you day w/ calcium. The last thing I take before going to bed is a calcium supplement. I originally started doing this last January in order to make sure my body had calcium available to repair bones at night. In November 2022, while I was researching BTM (bone turnover markers), I found a study that shows that women who take calcium at night have lower bone turnover markers in the mornings thus validating my decision to end my day with calcium.