After more careful examination of the issue, I tend to agree with Victor's
point. (or maybe it is because I like my caffeine and would like to justify
not eliminating it from my diet...) At any rate, my sources are cited.

While caffeine-use has been associated with developing fewer osteocytes in
immature lab mice(1), studies have I found showed no evidence or association
in caffeine usage and osteoporosis in adults(1,2), except when used in
conjunction with alcohol(2). Even a study based on the suggestion that
caffeine may be a factor in bone loss determined that there is no coorelation
between bone density and caffeine intake(3). One study claims that one cup of
coffee a day (roughly 100mg caffeine) is ok(4), but I have also read
*somewhere* that 400mg a day is fine as long as the calcium intake is
adequate.

Here are my sources, whose abstracts can be accessed by doing a search using
*caffeine* and *bones*  at
http://www.betterhealth.com/HK/SubjectMain/0,1344,186,00.html

(1)CS Wink, MJ Rossowska, T Nakamoto; Effects of caffeine on bone cells and
bone development in fast-growing rats; Anat Rec, 1996 Sep, v. 246, pp 30-38.
(2)TS Case, MJ Saltzman, J Cheuk, M Yazdani, A Sadeghpour, D Albrecht, MJ
Rossowska, T Nakamoto; Combined effects of caffeine and alcohol during
pregnancy on bones in newborn rats; Res Exp Med (Berl), 1996, v. 196, pp.
179-85 (English language published in Germany).
(3)T Lloyd, N Rollings, DF Eggli, K Kieselhorst, VM Chinchilli; Dietary
caffeine intake and bone status of postmenopausal women; American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 1997 Jun, v. 65, pp. 1826-30.
(4)PT Packard, RR Recker; Caffeine does not affect the rate of gain in spine
bone in young women; Osteoporos Int, 1996, v. 6, pp. 149-52.

In a message dated 98-01-20 08:48:27 EST, Victor wrote:

<< You wrote:
 >      What may even be more important than the drugs we use to combat the
 > damage and complications of osteoporosis are things like weight-bearing
 > exercise, avoiding caffeine, alcohol and nicotine, treating ourselves to a
 > healthy diet and getting plenty of rest.

 I often ask myself how much evidence is there that  avoiding caffeine
 is good for osteoporosis.  When I did my bone density
 scan I filled a questionnary with all kinds of questions
 about my lifestyle, in particular how much coffe I drink.
 Now, coffee contains a LOT of various chemicals, caffeine
 being only one of them.  Even if there is a correlation
 between amount of coffee and osteoporosis, and even if
 this correlation is not due to some third factor (like
 people who sit all the day in the office drink more coffee),
 it is not clear that caffeine is the chemical to blame.

         Victor
  >>