Posts Tagged 9 & osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a disease where bones become fragile and more likely to break. It is important to …

So what is the deal?

In a recent study, scientists evaluated the food diaries of over one thousand senior women (ages 70-85).  After evaluating the records and comparing a number of variables to bone density it was discovered that women who ate chocolate one time or more daily had weaker bones than those who ate it less than once a week. In fact the group who ate chocolate daily had bone densities that were 3.1% lower than their counterparts who ate chocolate less than once per week.

Thus the headlines…Chocolate Causes Osteoporosis.

So does chocolate cause osteoporosis? Not likely. This study is considered preliminary research because it does not show cause and effect. Although the statistics show a correlation between chocolate and bone loss, there are just too many other factors (perhaps thousands) that can account for the findings that chocolate eaters have lower bone density. For instance, is it possible that people who eat chocolate daily take less care of themselves compared to people who eat it once a week? In my book, daily chocolate consumption suggests either a lack of health knowledge or a disregard for health and fitness. Is it then feasible that the group who eats chocolate daily also eats other acidic foods, sugary foods, drinks more sodas, exercises less, etc?

Of Course! This study falls into a class of research called observational or epidemiological research which is considered the weakest form of study. This type of research commonly acts as the launching board for more expensive and involved double blind research. In the case of chocolate, I doubt we will see this type of research completed.

Is it possible that these findings are accurate? Is it possible that there is some compound in chocolate that causes bone loss? As a scientist, I must concede the possibility, however, it is highly unlikely! Should we eat chocolate daily? Of course not, at least not in quantity, but should my dear mother, who eats well, takes her supplements, goes to her daily “Guts and Butts” exercise class avoid her chocolate square once or twice a week…No! She is 73 years old and deserves to enjoy her chocolate square and it is unfortunate that many people will likely fall prey to this ploy to sell newspapers.

Remember, if you follow the principles in the eBook, Strong Bones Forever, you need not worry about these types of weak findings. There are many straws on the camel’s back, some are heavier than others, in my eBook we cover all the straws that matter!

The fascinating study, performed at Oklahoma State University, evaluated prunes as a tool for helping to prevent osteoporosis. That’s right….prunes!

In the study, the researchers gave 58 women 12 prunes daily and after 3 months tested the blood levels of certain markers of bone repair and growth. Compared to women who did not supplement with the prunes, the prune eaters enjoyed higher blood levels of growth factors and enzymes that are known to indicate improved bone repair.

Now the controversy…in the free report that comes along with the eBook Strong Bones Forever, prunes are listed as an “acidic food”. As a matter of fact, they are listed as having a grade of “D” in the list of acid/base foods. So how can they be good for the bones?

First, it is important to realize that no process of the body exists in a vacuum. What I mean by this, as it pertains to bone health, is you can’t always look at one characteristic of a food and assess its benefit or harm to the body. In the situation with prunes, prunes are a dried fruit which concentrates the sugars and could potentially increase the acidic ash of the food after it is metabolized. So, when you evaluate prunes for its pH impact on the body it may grade a “D”, however, when you look at other compounds you may see something completely different.

So what is so special about prunes? Why might they be a friend to the bones?

Prunes contain a number of compounds that may have a positive impact on the bones. If we consider 12 prunes daily to be one serving then you receive a daily dose of boron (2-3 mg) which plays a very important role in bone density. In addition, there are certain phenolic antioxidants that may short circuit free radicals that may attack the bones. Finally, 12 prunes daily contain a whopping 745 mg of potassium which is one of the body’s first lines of defense against acid buildup.

Overall, the prune may have a slightly acidic effect on the body. This negative effect may be completely negated by other factors. With all that said, I doubt that 12 prunes daily would be sufficient to reverse osteoporosis, although it may be one more step in the right direction.

Remember, osteoporosis is a complex condition that requires a multi-faceted approach in order to make progress in reversing it. Prunes certainly do not do harm, and may in fact provide nutrients that work to improve bone repair. Because of this study I am going to move prunes from a grade of “D” to a grade of “B” on the list. If more research confirms this finding then I may further increase its rating to an “A”. The study was small and only evaluated blood tests, this type of research is far from conclusive but it does give me confidence that prunes are not an enemy to bone development.

For more information about the electronic book, Strong Bones Forever, visit www.strongbonesforever.com where you can purchase and download the book.

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Osteoporosis

Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of having to watch our aging parents develop the diseases commonly associated with age. If you are like me, you have a nearly obsessive desire to make sure that we don’t follow along the same path. In order to succeed in this mission, we need to start with a paradigm that allows us to understand why we develop these diseases in the first place.

A well-respected researcher at the University of California, Berkley, has come up with a theory that may give us insight into how to avoid common diseases associated with aging, including:

1.      Heart disease (specifically calcifications of the arteries)
2.      Osteoporosis
3.      Various forms of cancer
4.      Diabetes and insulin resistance
5.      Breast fibroid
6.      Fatigue
7.      Weight gain
8.      And more…

Dr. Bruce Ames announced that he had a new theory of aging, which he named, “Triage Theory”. Triage theory states that when the body does not have sufficient nutrients to feed all tissues equally, the urgent needs of the body will outweigh the less urgent needs, even if they both share a high level of importance. A good way of illustrating this theory is to associate it with principles of time management.

I am a student of time management, mostly because I am terrible at it. One principle that is at the core of time management is the process of differentiating between urgent and important tasks and non-urgent but important tasks. Urgent/important tasks are things that need to be handled right now or you will suffer immediate consequences. Examples of urgent/important tasks include:

1.      A phone call from an important client
2.      Paying your mortgage on time
3.      Urgent staffing issues, and work emergencies.

Non-urgent/important matters are important to the long-term goals but there are few immediate consequences to not doing them. Examples include:

1.      Learning about new technology that may impact your job or business in the future
2.      Upgrading accounting software to be compliant with next year’s tax laws
3.      Setting up your next dental-hygiene appointment

If your life is filled with urgent/important tasks, usually the non-urgent/important tasks will be thrown by the wayside resulting in a lack of personal and organizational growth. In other words, the organization may remain healthy for today, but in the long run, the neglect of non-urgent-but-important matters will cause the person or organization to fail from ineptitude.

Dr. Ames suggests that the body is doing the same thing; prioritizing immediate needs above the future needs of the body.  He believes that the body does this because we evolved during a time when we weren’t expected to live to be 100 years old anyway.  Instead, nature prioritized the act of keeping us alive long enough to procreate rather than long enough to see our great grandchildren.

Iodine is a good example of how this theory presents itself within the body. When iodine is moderately deficient, the thyroid will take precedence at the expense of other tissues that need it, albeit in a less urgent manner. This assures that the body has enough iodine to keep the metabolism functioning, at the cost of long-term health of other tissues such as the breasts, prostate, and immune system.

Another example of the Triage Theory in action is vitamin K deficiency. Vitamin K has biological effect in most cells of the body including the arteries and the bones. When vitamin K is moderately deficient, the liver will snatch the vitamin K from the blood in order to make sure that it can produce clotting factors needed to prevent you from bleeding to death from a paper cut. Unfortunately, because the K is being used in developing clotting factors, the bones grow weak and the arteries develop calcifications from being slowly starved of vitamin K.

To protect against the consequences of biological triage, you must make sure that there is an abundance of nutrition that is available to the body so that both urgent/important processes and non-urgent/important processes are able to function on all cylinders. Doing so will allow you to enjoy optimal health well into your later years.

A multi-vitamin is a good start in assuring that the body has sufficient levels of the various nutrients to feed the urgent/important and non-urgent/important processes.  Unfortunately, most multi’s (even high quality multi’s) fall short in providing sufficient levels of various nutrients such as vitamin D, vitamin K and iodine. Given this fact, we typically need to supplement with higher levels of these nutrients than are supplied by a multi.

Previously, I was taking these nutrients separately. Luckily, they are now provided in a single capsule to support your current supplement program. This supplement combines 5,000 iu of vitamin D3, 1.1 mg of vitamin K2 and 1 mg of whole-food iodine. The product is called Vitamins D and K with Sea-Iodine by Life Extension Foundation.

The reason that such a blend is so powerful is because of the broad importance and the relative deficiency of these nutrients. By providing the body with optimal levels of these three nutrients, you are helping to shore up the body’s defenses against many of the previously reported disease associated with aging.

Orthorexia nervosa – being nervous about correct eating (people who focus on healthy eating)
Supplements (vitamins)
Amount of omega 3s to take daily
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When to take fish oilBlood platelets
Coumadin & Levaquin
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Omega 3, 6, 9  & osteoporosis
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Cholesterol medications
Plavix
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Blood pressure & turmeric
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Curcumin & inflammation
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Omega 3

If you understand the process of bone building and breakdown you will have a better grasp on why this medication may not be a leap forward in the fight against bone loss.
There are two types of cells, bone building cells and bone breaking cells. The purpose of the bone breaking cells is to remove old brittle bone that has been damaged due to everyday wear and tear. The denosumab is an effective compound in the inhibition of these bone chomping cells, however, by inhibiting these cells you will retain old brittle bone while building new bone around the older bone. This, to me, is not an ideal approach. Instead of inhibiting this process, I believe it is more important to stimulate new bone growth. Aside from being a different type/class of pharmaceutical, denosumab is similar to Fosamax and Boniva in its mechanism of action. Most of the research on denosumab has evaluated its impact on bone density rather than a more important endpoint of fracture risk. It is possible to harden the bones while making them more prone to fracture. I believe that this occurs with long term Fosamax use and is likely to occur with denosumab. Only long term research will tell. Needless to say, I am not excited about this medication.

We reported this information on our radio program, click here to listen to the recorded show. (Click on Hour 1.)
In one of the main studies published on Fosamax, researchers tout a 56% decrease in the risk of fracture in the group given Fosamax compared to those on a placebo. This sounds like a significant finding, however, a closer evaluation of this study tells a slightly different story. According to the study, 99.8% of the Fosamax treatment group did not suffer a fracture. That sounds wonderful. However, when you look at the group given an inactive placebo 99.5% of them did not suffer a fracture. That means the actual difference between the group was just 0.3%. This equates to a 56% decrease in relative risk which is an arbitrary number designed to make the results look more significant than they are. In other words, you would have to treat 81 women for 4.2 years at a cost of over $300,000 in order to prevent 1 fracture! That means 80 out of 81 women will gain NO BENEFIT from the medication! In my opinion, that is hardly worth the risk.
Now for you men and women who have been diagnosed with osteopenia, or pre-osteoporosis. How did you do in the Fosamax study? Well, according to this research, the subgroup with osteopenia suffered an INCREASE in fracture risk. In fact, there was an 84% increase in risk of hip fracture and a 50% increase in risk of wrist fracture. This is exactly why I think prescribing these medications to women with osteopenia should be called malpractice.
It makes much more sense to work to build new, healthy, pliable bone rather than taking a pill that is designed to keep around old, brittle, damaged bone. See our osteoporosis protocol in the Health Issues section of our website for more details about how to achieve stronger bones by purely natural means. For a more detailed discussion of the topic of natural cures for osteoporosis, visit the website www.strongbonesforever.com.

Have you ever stopped to wonder who taught a monkey what to eat? I realize that you are here to learn about the benefits of potassium, bare with me a moment, I promise I will give you the answer. for now,, back to the monkey question, it will all make sense in a second…

I am willing to bet that you’ve never given it much thought because, admittedly, the question is quite ridiculous. Monkeys just seem to know what to eat. Through this mysterious force we call “instinct”, most animals exit the womb and just know exactly what to put in their mouths.

Although humans are more than animals, we do have instincts, like our monkey ancestors.

In recent years scientists have been trying to understand what man consumed when we didn’t have government agencies to tell us what to eat. During this time, approximately 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, Paleolithic man was comprised of hunters and gatherers who consumed a diet motivated by instinct. Then approximately 10,000 years ago began the Neolithic Revolution.

The Grand Mistake

During this new age of human development; we adopted more of an agriculture and animal husbandry practice. I imagine this is about the time when those nasty little creatures called “food scientists” came into existence. A “food scientist” is someone who thinks they can make food better, tastier, and more nutritious than nature.

Although the study of the Paleolithic lifestyle is quite complex, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what kinds of foods our ancestors consumed. It’s no surprise to see that most experts in the area of Paleolithic eating suspect that these people consumed primarily fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and some wild game. If you’re reading this list and feel that this is common sense, that “knowing” that you are experiencing is the remnant of your Paleolithic instinct.

Our abandonment of the Paleolithic way has resulted in a number of harmful and even life-threatening nutrient deficiencies…

Potassium Deficiency and the Benefits of Potassium

One nutrient that many scientists believe was much more abundant in our diet during Paleolithic times was potassium.

The Stone Age humans likely consume approximately 15 grams of potassium on a daily basis. Compare that to the recommended daily allowance of 4.7 grams per day. A ridiculously low level, I may add, that most of us never achieve.

In addition to a deficiency of potassium, the average American consumes a large excess of sodium. The sodium to potassium ratio is important for proper function of the body; when this ratio gets imbalanced the body suffers. Our Stone Age ancestors only consumed less than a gram of sodium (0.6 g) and it is estimated that the average American now consumes approximately 3.5 g of sodium and an embarrassing 2.8 g of potassium.

Why Should We Be Concerned With Our Sodium/Potassium Balance?

The balance of sodium and potassium is crucial for the function many cellular systems; some signs of potassium deficiency include:

1. Fatigue
2. Heart arrhythmias
3. Heart failure
4. Muscle weakness
5. Constipation
6. Delayed emptying of the stomach

Isn’t Potassium Dangerous?

Contrary to popular belief, potassium is a safe nutrient when taken properly. In healthy adults without heart or kidney problems, daily potassium intake should not exceed 8 grams.

If you suffer with kidney and/or heart disease, or you are on certain medications for blood pressure, potassium toxicity can occur at lower dose. For this latter group, ask your doctor before taking potassium supplements.

When supplementing with potassium, you must take into account how much potassium you are taking in through diet. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, legumes are all good sources of potassium. It is possible to get sufficient potassium levels from your diet, however, it requires discipline and a hefty appetite for fruits and vegetables.

For the rest of us, supplementation may be required in order to achieve healthy potassium levels.

Who’s At Risk of Potassium Deficiency?

Before we get into the benefits of potassium, let’s talk about the risks of potassium deficiency.

It is important to realize that certain lifestyle habits, medications, and conditions can lead to an increased risk of potassium deficiency, these include:

1. The use of diuretics
2. Diarrhea or vomiting
3. Chronic dieting
4. Chronic kidney failure
5. Magnesium deficiency
6. Strenuous exercise

Keep these variables in mind when considering supplementation. See our Daily Potassium Requirements for Optimal Health for more information on supplementing with potassium.

What Are the Benefits of Potassium?

Potassium is essential for regulating fluid balance, acidity within the body, blood pressure, and muscle function. There are numerous outward benefits of supplementing with potassium, including:

1. Lowering blood pressure – An analysis of 33 published studies have demonstrated potassium supplementation to be of benefit in people who suffer with hypertension. The effective dose used in the research was 2,400 mg daily. (JAMA 1997;277:1624–32
2. Protection from Cardiac Arrhythmias – Studies show that people with low potassium levels are at a heightened risk of arrhythmia. Supplementation with 1,000 mg of potassium was shown to decrease the risk of arrhythmias in people who were prescribed a potassium-depleting blood pressure medication called hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). (Int J Cardiol 1989;25:93–8)
3. Prolonged life and Improved Quality of life – One study demonstrated that men who consumed high levels of potassium had a longer life. More importantly, those with higher potassium intake enjoyed an improved quality of life. See the article: Potassium for a Longer and Healthier Life – Benefits of Potassium for Seniors
4. Improved energy – Electrolytes, such as potassium, can allow the body to manufacture needed energy. Potassium deficiency can cause physical and mental exhaustion.
5. End to muscle cramps and charlie horses – Potassium deficiency can promote muscle cramps, as can calcium or magnesium deficiency.