Hold the milk. A possible future therapy for bone loss and thinning (osteoporosis and its milder cousin osteopenia) may be on the horizon: an annual shot of the drug zoledronate. Researchers at the University of California in San Diego gave either a zoledronate injection or a placebo to HIV-positive people who had osteopenia or osteoporosis. A year later, the zoledronate takers showed greater increases in bone density at the hips and lower spine (two areas commonly affected by bone loss). Only one experienced a known zoledronate side effect, uveitis, an eye inflammation. The placebo group didn’t show similar gains.

Zoledronate is already available (as the injectable Reclast and, in a slightly different form, as the tablet Boniva) for post-menopausal women, the traditional targets of osteoporosis and osteopenia. But some younger HIV-positive women and men also experience weakening bones.

In their January trial report, the researchers emphasized that further study is needed. Meanwhile, note that all study participants took daily vitamin D and calcium supplements as well—already known to help bolster your bones.