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Introduction
How to prevent osteoporosis
In 1993, the Lancet medical journal reported that the remains of an 18th century woman were found beneath a church. Studies showed that these bones were stronger and more dense than the bones of any modern women, either pre-menopausal or post-menopausal. Something in our modern lifestyle is clearly affecting the density and strength of our bones, and only now are we beginning to understand what that might be.
While traditionally considered to be a women's disease, osteoporosis is also found in men, although normally to a lesser degree. In this section, I'll examine why women are more likely to get osteoporosis and take a look at why this condition has become so prevalent. Lifestyle is one of the main factors that is within your control, and adopting a few simple changes can go a long way towards protecting the health of your bones.
What is osteoporosis?
The word osteoporosis literally means 'porous bones'; in other words, bones that are filled with tiny pores, or holes. Our bones change constantly - breaking down and being rebuilt as part of the living process. Two kinds of cells are important for this process, and they are known as osteoclasts and osteoblasts. Osteoclasts renew old bone by dissolving or resorbing it, leaving an empty space. The osteoblasts then fill this empty space with new bone.
If the rate of renewal does not equal the rate of breakdown, bone loss occurs. If this continues over years, the result is osteoporosis.
Are there any symptoms?
Unfortunately, the answer to this question may be no. Osteoporosis is often called a 'silent disease' because the first sign of the condition can be a fracture resulting from a minor accident. One patient told me that she discovered she had osteoporosis after breaking her ribs while sneezing. It has even been suggested that the majority of osteoporosis-related accidents are the result of the bone breaking, causing a fall, rather than the reverse.
This one of the reasons why testing - and prevention - are so important.
What is the cause?
There are a number of factors that can contribute to the development of osteoporosis. These include:
- heredity
- premature menopause
- lack of exercise
- smoking
- certain medication
- irregular menstrual cycles
- weight
- digestive problems
- certain foods and drinks
If you have established osteoporosis there is no doubt that you will need some medical treatment. But don't write off the natural approach. Follow the recommendations on the following pages alongside your treatment in order to give your body the best chance of increasing bone density.
If you have been told that you do not have osteoporosis and that your bones are normal, or just below, it is worth following the recommendations in order to either maintain that good bone density or to prevent a minor problem from becoming a major one.
The first supplement that comes to mind when we consider osteoporosis is calcium. There's no doubt that calcium is important to build up and maintain the strength of our bones, but high levels in our diets or in supplements do not necessarily mean that the calcium is actually reaching our bones. When we consume calcium we need both stomach acid and vitamin D in order to absorb calcium properly.
Many other nutrients are equally crucial for healthy bones, and these
include magnesium, vitamin C vitamin D, zinc and boron. This is why
it is important not to focus exclusively on calcium as a supplement
for bone health, but to take a range of nutrients that are important
for the bones.
Multivitamin and Mineral Supplement
A good quality multivitamin and mineral would form the foundation of your supplement programme to make sure that you are getting a 'little bit of everything'. You then add in the nutrients listed below in slightly higher amounts which are known to be helpful for osteoporosis.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D helps to regulate blood levels of both calcium and phosphorus. Without good levels of vitamin D you cannot absorb calcium from your food or your supplements. You may be getting plenty in your diet, but if your body thinks there is not enough in the blood, it will begin to leach it from your bones. Over time this will cause bone loss.
Vitamin C
This builds up collagen, which is a sort of 'cement' that holds the bone matrix (the architecture of the bone) together, so it is as important as the minerals for prevention of osteoporosis.
Folic Acid
High homocysteine levels in menopausal women have also been associated with an increase in bone loss. Homocysteine comes from the breakdown of one of the essential amino acids (methionine) and should, under normal circumstances, be detoxified by the body. Giving women folic acid has helped to reduce the homocysteine in the blood. It has been suggested that a B complex supplement that contains folic acid should be sufficient, and this will also contain vitamin B6, which is important for the bones. Vitamin B6 has been found to be deficient in people with hip fractures, and rats fed a vitamin B6 deficient diet developed osteoporosis.
Calcium
You do need calcium for your bones but you also need to be able to absorb the calcium you take. Not all calcium supplements are the same. Calcium carbonate is the cheapest form of calcium. It's literally mined from the ground. This isn't a naturally occurring form of dietary calcium, as no foods (either plant or animal) that we eat contain calcium carbonate. This is the most difficult form of calcium to absorb and you need a pretty efficient digestive system in order to manage it. If you have low levels of stomach acid (hydrochloric acid), you will struggle to absorb the calcium from a calcium carbonate supplement.
One study showed that of a group of post-menopausal women, 40 percent were severely deficient in stomach acid. Those with the low levels only absorbed 4 percent of the calcium from calcium carbonate, as compared to 45 percent of the calcium from another form of calcium supplement, called calcium citrate. In another study, 500mg of calcium citrate was absorbed better than even 2000mg of calcium carbonate.
Blood-testing for calcium levels is not particularly helpful because
your body has a fail-safe mechanism to take calcium from your bones
if the level falls in the blood. In other words, your calcium levels
might appear high even when they are not, because your body will have
leached calcium from your bones. A hair
mineral analysis is a better indicator because you can see high
calcium turnover (the calcium level is higher than normal) in the results.
Magnesium
Magnesium is just as important as calcium for your bones. It helps in metabolising calcium and vitamin C and helps to convert vitamin D to the active form necessary to ensure that calcium is efficiently absorbed by your body. A study conducted by a lab in London compared different groups of women, some with osteoporosis, some post-menopausal but with no osteoporosis and some on HRT. They found that none of the women in any group had low levels of calcium. But the women with osteoporosis had low levels of other bone nutrients, including magnesium and zinc. They also had low levels of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, which is an indication that the bone is not renewing itself adequately. Magnesium is required for normal levels of this enzyme.
Not having enough magnesium can stop bone growth, decrease bone cell activity and make the bones more fragile. Magnesium also prevents the build-up of unwanted calcium deposits elsewhere in the body. In a 1991 research project, one group of women took HRT plus magnesium. The other took HRT alone. After nine months the bone mineral density of the women taking magnesium had increased by 11 percent. The women taking only HRT showed no increase in bone mineral density. After two years the magnesium takers were still improving their bone density.
Boron
Boron is another mineral that is being widely studied in relation to osteoporosis. Research conducted by the US Department of Agriculture demonstrated that giving post-menopausal women a short course of 3mg boron supplements daily resulted in a 44 percent reduction in the amount of calcium excreted in their urine. The conclusions of this study were that boron improved the metabolism (the way it is used by the body) of both calcium and magnesium. Boron is found in alfalfa, kelp, cabbage and leafy greens.
Zinc
Zinc helps vitamin D absorb calcium. Zinc is needed for the proper formation of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, the two cells which are essential for bone turnover. Zinc has found to be deficient in older people with osteoporosis
Other factors
Exercise
Exercise is extremely important in the prevention of osteoporosis.
You need to ensure that you are doing some weight-bearing exercises
(such as brisk walking, running, tennis, badminton, stair-climbing or
aerobics).
Mineral Analysis Test with Supplement and Nutritional Assessment Programme
This test measures the deficiency and excess levels of 7 different minerals and 5 heavy toxic metals that may be present in your body.
Online Personalised Supplement Assessment Programme
The analysis of this comprehensive questionnaire will give you a three monthly supplement programme to help balance any vitamin and mineral deficiencies you may have.
Osteoporosis Bone Turnover Test (Urine)
This simple urine test, (which is collected at home), measures how much your bone is turning over. i.e.. The rate at which you might be loosing bone.
After three months you would then have a re-test in order to monitor your progress and adjust your supplement programme according to your new condition.
If you need help in obtaining any of the supplements, herbs or tests mentioned above, click, The Natural Health Practice. They can supply all of them for you online or if you prefer to talk to somebody first you can also order by mail order on the telephone. The products supplied by this company are always of the highest quality.
Nutrition
Ensure you are getting the right nutrition:
Follow the dietary recommendations outlined in The Foundation of Health
The supplement programme below should be taken for at least three months in order to achieve best results.
- A good multivitamin and mineral supplement which contains boron e.g. Femforte II
- B complex (50 mg of each B vitamin per day; including the amount you get from your multivitamin and mineral supplement)
- Vitamin C with bioflavonoids (1000mg per day)
- A combined magnesium and calcium citrate supplement (with up to 500mg of calcium citrate per day)
- Zinc citrate (15mg per day)
- Linseed oil (1000mg per day, for general health)
At the end of three months you should reassess your condition and adjust your supplement programme accordingly.
The tests below have been specially selected to be the most helpful if you are concerned about osteoporosis.
Mineral Analysis Test with Supplement and Nutritional Assessment Programme
Online Personalised
Supplement Assessment Programme
Osteoporosis Bone Turnover Test (Urine)
After three months you would then have a re-test in order to monitor your progress and adjust your supplement programme according to your new condition.
If you need help in obtaining any of the supplements, herbs or tests mentioned above, click, The Natural Health Practice. They can supply all of them for you online or if you prefer to talk to somebody first you can also order by mail order on the telephone. The products supplied by this company are always of the highest quality.
This section forms part of a larger complete e-book on Osteoporosis. In the rest of the e-book you will learn what the medical approaches to Osteoporosis are and how to combine them with the natural approach. This is called Integrated Medicine and is the way that healthcare of the future is moving towards. You will also learn what medical tests will give you an accurate diagnosis of your condition and if you really need to have them. The medical treatments for Osteoporosis are then examined which can include looking at either drugs or surgery. Each treatment is then discussed and the pros and cons of the options explained. The Integrated Approach to Osteoporosis is considered in some detail so that if appropriate you can know how to combine the best of both conventional and natural medicine.
At the end of the e-book is a practical step by step summary of what you can do to help yourself.
If you would like to read the rest of this chapter click, Osteoporosis E-book at The Natural Health Practice and you will be given details of how you can download the whole e-book.
Or if you would like even more in depth advice about Osteoporosis you should read"The New Natural Alternatives to HRT"; an international best seller acclaimed by many as "one of the best books I have ever read on Osteoporosis."
