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UPDATE and REPOST: 24 Jan., 2009
There are many articles I've posted here at Natural Health News in the past five years. Bone health is not a lineal process as mainstream medicine pundits would have you believe. It isn't even properly evaluated with the bone density testing offered around the country; the ones that allegedly do the testing by using your heel in a machine (DEXA) that emits radiation. Ultrasound isn't completely revealing either.
You might want to know of a test approved in 2000 at the FDA called the Access Ostase blood test. This test determines bone metabolism by measuring the level of a certain enzyme in the blood called bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP). If a particular osteoporosis therapy is not working, physicians may be able to tell within a matter of months.
Information on lab tests for bone health concerns
"Osteoporosis is a degenerative bone disease affecting roughly 25 million Americans, mostly post-menopausal women. Osteoporosis is currently one of the most under-diagnosed and under-treated disorders in medicine. It is estimated that one-third of women over age 50 have osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in normal bone density due to the loss of calcium and collagen. ***A loss of bone density causes bones to become brittle, and in turn, leads to frequent fractures and other serious effects. Osteoporosis accounts for more than 2.3 million fractures per year in the United States and Europe."
***Just remember that as bone density leads to brittle bones and fracture, so do the prescription osteoporosis drugs.
It isn't as simple as taking a very risky drug your doctor tells you you need to take. Bone health, just like all health is a complex process involving numerous factors, and especially many nutrients.
Nutrient Supports Bone Health Over Time
By Rosalie Marion Bliss, January 14, 2009
Findings from a new study suggest that natural pigments found in plants may help protect against bone loss in older men and women. Researchers funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) reported the findings in a paper published online by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The study was led by epidemiologist Katherine Tucker with the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (HNRCA) at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. Tucker directs the HNRCA's Dietary Assessment and Epidemiology Research Program.
Other studies have consistently shown that fruit and vegetable intake is good for bones. Biological antioxidants in fruits and vegetables, such as carotenoids, protect cells and tissues from damage caused by naturally occurring oxygen free radicals in the body. Such plant nutrients may help protect the skeleton by reducing oxidative stress and thereby inhibiting bone breakdown or resorption.
The researchers examined potential effects on bone mineral density of overall and individual intake of several carotenoid compounds, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and lutein+zeaxanthin.
For the observational study, the researchers tracked changes in bone mineral density at two areas of the hip and lumbar spine of male and female volunteers, aged 75 years on average, participating in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study. Among these volunteers, 213 men and 390 women were measured at the beginning of the study and four years later.
Over the course of the four years of the study, carotenoids were associated with some level of protection against losses in bone mineral density at the hip in men and at the lumbar spine in women. No significant associations were observed at the other bone sites.
The results suggest there is a protective effect of carotenoids, particularly of lycopene, against bone loss in older adults. The researchers concluded that carotenoids may explain, in part, the previously observed protective effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on bone mineral density.
To look up the levels of individual carotenoids in selected foods, go to "Reports By Single Nutrients," provided by the ARS Nutrient Data Laboratory at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/docs.htm?docid=15869
ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The above report is heartening however much of the information in the report was made known well over a decade ago in the work of Susan Brown, PhD., and many researchers before her.
Other information you may not know. Part of this missing link is the bone-damaging impact from many non-osteoporosis drugs. Another is that there are very effective natural approaches to insure and improve bone health that are not based on bone destroying fluoride drugs.
Please contact us for more information.
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While Dr. Karsenty's research may lead to a shift in mainstream medicine I would call for a totally different approach.
We do not need another new drug and we certainly do not need the current fluoride and bisphosphonate type drugs that are replete with a plethora of side effects that can cause cancer and fracture.
I'd like to see a totally different approach like the one I developed for clients that is showing positive benefits of healthy new bone growth and strengthening. Or as an option you might find help with an herbal formula proven at Harvard's Dana Farber I have used with others as their choice.
Not only do we need new health care, we need new ideas and new approaches with out fear of going outside the controlling and repressive "standards of care" controls to keep providers in line with Big Insurance and Big Pharma dictates.
And we need to move from the "study" model to the application model.
It Takes Guts To Build Bone, Scientists Discover
ScienceDaily (2008-12-01) -- Bone growth is controlled in the gut through serotonin, the same naturally present chemical used by the brain to influence mood, appetite and sleep, according to a new discovery. Until now, the skeleton was thought to control bone growth and serotonin was known as a neurotransmitter acting in the brain. This insight could transform how osteoporosis is treated by giving doctors a way to increase bone mass, not just slow its loss. ... > read full article
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