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Many factors are known or suspected to accelerate the rate of
bone loss. These include smoking, alcohol, low calcium intake,
lack of exercise, various medications, and several medical
illnesses. Excessive consumption of vitamin A may also increase
risk of osteoporosis, 1,109 and rapid weight loss may increase
the risk in postmenopausal women. 2 Raw food vegetarians are
also likely to have significant bone thinning. 129  In general,
women are far more prone to osteoporosis than men. For this
reason, the following discussion focuses almost entirely on
women.  Hormone replacement therapy prevents or reverses
osteoporosis in women. However, now that long-term use of
hormone replacement therapy has been found to be unsafe,
conventional medical treatment for osteoporosis in women centers
mainly on drugs in the bisphosphonate fami