(HealthDay News) -- Overweight adults who eat a low-calorie diet that includes proper nutrition can lose weight and fat without experiencing significant bone loss, a new study says.

Amgen's experimental bone-loss drug denosumab increased bone density and prevented fractures among clinical trial participants being treated for prostate cancer, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing company research.

The injected drug was evaluated among 1,400 men who were being treated with prostate cancer therapy that blocks male hormones including testosterone, increasing their risk for weakened bones and fractures. Those who took denosumab fractured vertebrae at less than half the rate of those who took a placebo, the newspaper said.

TUESDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) -- Low testosterone levels put men at high risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and early death, but testosterone replacement therapy may help better the odds, according to new studies.

Some experts believe that low testosterone levels, which become more common with age, are linked to several health conditions. These include loss of bone and muscle mass, depression, decreased libido, and, most important, the metabolic syndrome -- a cluster risk factors that increase the chances of developing heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

Screening for bone loss in older adults can be done as infrequently as every five years, according to Canadian researchers who looked at 9,423 people, ages 25 to 85.

They found that women ages 50 to 54 had the most pronounced bone loss of all the participants -- 1.3 percent. The researchers said this decrease is within the margin of error of most bone density screening machines, which means that amount of bone loss is not as significant as previously believed, CBC News reported.

By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, April 24 (HealthDay News) -- Women who play sports are prone to tearing the knee ligament that connects the thighbone to the shinbone. Beyond the immediate pain and swelling it can cause, there's now reason to suspect that this type of injury may lead to another vexing health problem.

Simply stated, osteoporosis is a misbalance between bone construction and destruction, where the building activity of bone is greatly diminished resulting in an overall loss of bone density and ultimately, weaker bones. The bone deteriorating disease is preventable, yet over 44 million Americans, most of which are women, currently suffer from the disease making it a common concern among women of all ages, but particularly those over 50.