Alkaline Phosphatase Osteopenia, Osteoporosis marker

Alkaline Phosphatase Osteopenia Osteoporosis is a test to determine if you have experienced bone loss. Alkaline phosphatase is a specific protein in the blood. This protein can be measured during a blood test. Very high levels of the protein tend to indicate that the person has bone loss, that is they have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis.

Where might you hear this term? There are two main places where this term is used: 

First, The term is used in the medical status of premature infants. If you give birth to a baby prematurely, your baby’s physician will check the levels of this protein in your baby’s blood tests.

If your baby's level is high, your physician may want to do an X-ray or an ultra sound to determine how dense your baby’s bones are since many premature infants have low bone density. If your infant shows low bone density, your physician is likely to advise taking steps to improve the strength of your baby's bones. 

Second, you will find this term used in Research studies about Bone Loss.

 Since Alkaline phosphatase is measured in a blood test, that blood test can be used to determine if you have Osteopenia or Osteoporosis. Since the test can be done with a simple blood draw, it is often used by medical researchers studying the topic of bone loss. It is much less expensive than a dexa scan.

Measurement of this protein are often cited in research studies about bone loss and its potential treatments. Declining levels of the protein are usually seen as a positive sign during treatment for Osteopenia or Osteoporosis while rising levels are viewed as a sign of increasing bone loss. Simple and inexpensive way to check the effectiveness of any treatment being used.

If you want to read abstracts of some studies that include measurement of this protein they are listed on the Pub Med a web site of the United States National Library of Medicine. This site not only offers abstracts but sometimes it provides the full text of papers and published research on various health topics - including Osteopenia and Osteoporosis.  (See: link below)

Other studies about Alkaline Phosphatase Osteopenia, Osteoporosis

To check on what studies are available on this topic, just click on: Alkaline Phosphatase Osteopenia   

AND if you want to read more about bone loss and/or  specific suggestions of things you can do to increase your bone density, go to the Index/Site Map for this page. It has an extensive list of articles that give both Natural and Pharmaceutical approaches for reversing bone loss.   Actually this web site provides more information than many popular books on the topic.

  Click here for the Index page for this web site