Do astronauts take any pills to battle bone density loss?

Question

Is the effect of micro-gravity on bone structure similar to osteoporosis? If so, do they often take simple pills like calcium or more advance medicine such as ones listed here? Lastly, are they effective?

I am aware that daily workouts on the ISS are crucial. Just wondering if a medication alone could be enough to help with bone density.

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score 9 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 13 '13 at 03:59

This is commonly known as Spaceflight osteopenia . This results in loss of average bone density.

Increasing dietary calcium and vitamin D is a standard countermeasure for osteoporosis. Clay is reportedly used by NASA for retaining calcium. A variety of drug remedies currently used or proposed for osteoporosis may work for spaceflight, including hormone therapy (estrogen and/or progestin), selective estrogen receptor modulators, bisphosphonates , teriparatide , and others. Whether they can provide the same benefits for spaceflight as they do for osteoporosis is not yet known.

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Do astronauts take any pills to battle bone density loss?

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