Can you lose bone density with diabetes?

A reduction in bone density is known as osteoporosis and the link between osteoporosis and diabetes has long been debated. It is thought that type I diabetics may have a reduced peak bone density (where your peak bone density usually occurs at around the age of 30 years old once all of your bones have finished developing but before old age begins to degrade them). This is due to the fact that diabetes type I usually occurs at a young age and causes diabetics to have a small frame and be generally thin built (which increase the risk of developing osteoporosis). In addition to this it is thought that the increased risk of hypoglycaemia, vision problems and nerve damage increase the risk of falls which subsequently increases the risk of bone fractures. Bone fractures tend to repair in a way that reduces your overall bone density so that and increase in fractures increases your risk of developing osteoporosis. In contrast, type II diabetics tend to be overweight. Whilst a higher BMI should protect you from osteoporosis, type II diabetes was also found to increase the risk of falls (due to the large number of obese type II diabetics) which increased the risk of fractures and osteoporosis in a similar way to type II diabetes. 

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