Osteomalacia
What it means
Osteomalacia is softening of the bones caused by severe, long-term vitamin D deficiency, which prevents bone from hardening properly.
Soft bone from osteomalacia is structurally weak, so understanding and addressing severe vitamin D deficiency matters for keeping your bones strong.
Osteomalacia means your bones are soft rather than brittle. It happens when there isn't enough vitamin D in the body for a long time, so bone doesn't harden properly. Vitamin D plays a key role in letting your body use calcium to build strong, mineralized bone, so when it's severely lacking, new bone stays soft and weak instead of becoming hard.
This is different from osteoporosis, where bone becomes less dense but is still normally mineralized. With osteomalacia, the underlying structure of the bone itself doesn't harden the way it should. It's one of several distinct ways the bone remodeling system can go wrong, alongside conditions like Paget's disease, osteogenesis imperfecta, and avascular necrosis, each with its own cause.
If you're concerned about vitamin D levels or bone softness, that's a conversation worth having with your doctor, who can check your levels and guide you on what, if anything, needs to change.
How sure is this?
Graded Established Science: Supported by broad scientific consensus and decades of research. Read each study with its grade in mind. One study is a piece of the picture, not the whole of it.
Where the Academy teaches it
This page is the short version. The lessons teach it in full, with the context around it and a quiz to lock it in.
Related words
Vitamin D is a nutrient that helps your gut absorb calcium so it can be used to build and maintain bone.
Osteoporosis is a condition where bone breakdown outpaces bone building, causing bones to become thinner, more…
Paget's disease is a condition where bone remodeling speeds up too much in specific spots, creating new bone that's…
Osteogenesis imperfecta is a genetic disorder that causes the body to make fragile collagen, leading to bones that…
Avascular necrosis is when part of a bone dies because it loses its blood supply, which can weaken and eventually…
Education only, not medical advice. Decisions about tests, medications and treatment belong with your own doctor. OsteoStrong does not diagnose, treat or cure any disease.
