Bones: Here is the Beef

Osteoporosis, which means "porous bones," is a condition of excessive bone fragility which results in their breaking easily.

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Osteopenia is a condition that is less advanced and easier to reverse than osteoporosis. Osteoporosis takes twenty to thirty years to get to the stage where a sudden strain, bump or fall causes a fracture or a vertebra to collapse. The bone matrix is built of a porous net of proteins called collagen. That net is filled up with large minerals such as calcium, phosphorous, manganese and magnesium. Our bones have two kinds of bone cells: bone builders and bone destroyers. The body is constantly destroying and rebuilding bones. When we are young we utilize the calcium in our food to create stronger bones. This process is very complicated and requires a perfect nutritional and hormonal balance. Too little gastric juice from chronic antacids interferes with calcium absorption as does too much phosphoric acid in soft drinks.

On the other hand, eating excessive meat and sugar without enough alkaline (found in vegetables) increases blood acidity that is immediately buffered by withdrawal of calcium from your bones, thereby, rendering your bones weaker. Many hormones play a key role in bone metabolism including the thyroid and parathyroid hormone. All sex hormones in males and females play a role in bone health: progesterone builds new bone, estrogen maintains bone and testosterone strengthens your bones.

Collapsed vertebrae may initially be felt or seen in the form of severe back pain, loss of height, or spinal deformities such as kyphosis (stooped posture). These broken bones, also known as fractures, occur typically in the hip, spine, and wrist. Consider an insidious condition that drains away bone--the hardest, most durable substance in the body. It happens slowly, over years, so that often neither doctor nor patient is aware of weakening bones until one breaks or shatters unexpectedly. Unfortunately, this isn't science fiction. It's why osteoporosis is called the “silent disease” or “silent thief”.

This thief steals more than bone. It's the primary cause of hip fracture, which can lead to permanent disability, loss of independence, and sometimes even death. Collapsing spinal vertebrae can produce stooped posture and a "widow's hump." Lives collapse too. The chronic pain and anxiety that accompany a frail frame make people curtail meaningful activities because, in extreme cases, the simplest things can cause broken bones: bending to pick up something, a strong hug or a sneeze!

A hip fracture almost always requires hospitalization and major surgery. It can impair a person's ability to walk unassisted and may cause prolonged or permanent disability, even death. Spinal or vertebral fractures also have serious consequences, including loss of height, severe back pain and deformity.

A combination of genetic, dietary, hormonal, age-related, and lifestyle factors all contribute to this condition. The osteoporosis seen in postmenopausal women is the most common and best-studied, but there are other causes that may be treated differently.

The castration of too many women with unnecessary hysterectomies, and the confusion over hormone replacement that scared them away from proper bio-identical replacement when indicated, has resulted in twice as many women as men who now suffer from vertebral fractures and Alzheimer’s.

Changing attitudes and improving technology are brightening the outlook for people with osteoporosis. Nowadays, many women live 35 years or more of their lives after menopause. Improving the quality of those years has become an important health-care goal. Although some bone loss is expected as people age, osteoporosis is no longer viewed as an inevitable consequence of aging. Diagnosis is not deferred until bones break, a point where prevention is no longer possible.

Osteoporosis has been described as a geriatric disease with an adolescent onset, highlighting the importance of beginning to take steps early in life, through weight bearing exercise and diet, to reduce disabling consequences in later years.

There are several steps you can take to prevent or even reverse osteoporosis:

Prevention of this disease is very important because, while there are treatments for osteoporosis, there is currently no cure.

There are five steps to prevent osteoporosis. No one step alone is enough to prevent osteoporosis but all five may. They are:

1. A balanced diet in terms of acidity – more vegetables and fruits than meat and sugar. To minimize acidity, substitute lemon juice for all vinegar based salad dressings. Maintain a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, as well as, proper dietary reinforcement with food supplements such as iodine, trace minerals, vitamin K and Boron, a B vitamin.
2. Weight-bearing exercise.
3. A healthy lifestyle with no smoking or excessive alcohol use.
4. Proper diet with food containing iodine, trace minerals, vitamin K and Boron, a B vitamin. Pill supplements of these, if not present in diet.
5. Early and proper bio-identical hormone replacement when needed for men and women detected through bone density or urine measurements of bone destruction.

Calcium
Depending on your age, an appropriate calcium intake falls between 1,000 and 1,300 mg a day. If you have difficulty getting enough calcium from the foods you eat, you may take a calcium supplement to make up the difference so that you are getting a total of 1,300 mg.

Nutritionists recommend meeting your calcium needs with foods naturally rich in calcium. Adequate calcium intake in childhood and young adulthood is critical to achieving peak adult bone mass, yet many adolescent girls replace milk with nutrient-poor beverages like soda pop. Bone health requires a lot of nutrients and you're likely to get most of them in dairy products. They are a huge package rather than just a single nutrient. With so many low-fat and nonfat dairy products available, it's easy to make dairy foods part of a healthy diet. After age two, our pancreas secretes less and less of the enzyme lactase needed to digest milk products, rendering milk very hard on your digestive system. I encourage vegetable products that are rich in calcium such as broccoli, olives and spinach.

What kind of calcium should I take?
People at risk of kidney stones should avoid calcium hydroxyapetite even though it has the highest absorption rate and opt instead for calcium glucinate, which is slightly less absorbed, but does not promote the precipitation of kidney stones. Taking your calcium with the meal decreases the risk of kidney stones.

It is best to find a pill that has a mixture of calcium salts with other key ingredients such as vitamin D, magnesium, borone and vitamin K.

Calcium is critical, but even a high intake won't fully protect you against bone loss caused by hormone deficiency, physical inactivity, alcohol abuse, smoking, or parathyroid disorders.

Vitamin D
Vitamin D is needed for the body to absorb calcium. Without enough vitamin D, you will be unable to absorb calcium from the foods you eat, and your body will have to take calcium from your bones. Vitamin D is needed to help the body absorb calcium. Most people appear to get enough vitamin D because the skin produces it in sunlight unless they lack the enzyme to convert the inactive form of Vitamin D to its D3 active form. I strongly recommend that you measure your D3 levels. Vitamin D is also found in milk products and breakfast cereals, egg yolks, saltwater fish and liver. The darker your skin, the more resistant you are to sun penetration and the longer you need to be in the sun to get the vitamin D you need. Vitamin D lowers the blood pressure. This explains why African Americans have a higher incidence of high blood pressure, another silent killer.

Exercise
Calcium intake is critical, and those who need it most, younger women and girls, may not get enough. However, calcium alone can't build bones. You need to exercise. The best exercise for your bones is weight-bearing exercise such as walking, dancing, jogging, stair-climbing, lifting weights, racquet sports and hiking. Even though swimming is the best form of exercise for people suffering from chronic back pain, since it is not a weight-bearing activity, swimming is not as beneficial although it is great for stretching and preventing back pain. Water aerobics are a good compromise for that dilemma. If you have been sedentary most of your adult life, be sure to check with your healthcare provider before beginning any exercise program. The greatest benefit for older people is that physical fitness reduces the risk of fracture because better balance, muscle strength, and agility make falls less likely. Exercise also provides many other life-enhancing psychological and cardiovascular benefits. Increased activity can aid nutrition, too, because it boosts appetite, which is often reduced in older people. The biggest reason older people do not get enough calcium, is that they simply don't eat much!

Smoking.
Women who smoke have lower levels of estrogen compared to nonsmokers and frequently go through menopause earlier. Postmenopausal women who smoke may require higher doses of hormone replacement therapy and may have more side effects.

Alcohol.
Regular consumption of two to three ounces a day of alcohol may be damaging to the skeleton, even in young women and men. Those who drink heavily are more prone to bone loss and fractures, both because of poor nutrition, as well as, increased risk of falling.

Medications for Prevention and Treatment
Fosamex, a non-hormonal therapy, can increase bone mass as much as eight percent and reduces fractures by as much as 30 percent to 40 percent, depending on skeletal site. However, you know by now my attitude towards drugs in general; there is always a price to pay. One of its serious side effects is damage to the esophagus and another is the possibility of developing jaw necrosis.

The best strategy to monitor your response to treatment interventions to reverse osteopenia is not by waiting to see on the DEXA scan or bone densometer the later signs of bone loss but to detect the earlier sign of spilling your bones into your urine with the Dpd biomarker urine test.

Fall prevention is a vital factor to consider for a person suffering from Osteoporosis.

Some tips on fall prevention:
• Avoid rugs which may make you trip.
• Invest in good lighting around the house.
• Check your vision for cataracts.
• Exercise to maintain strong muscles, bones and good gait balance.
• Use a cane or a wheelchair when needed. Do not be too stubborn to accept help that can prevent a fall. Such a fall can set you back years in terms of your physical independence and health. That is if you survive it; one quarter of victims of hip fractures die within a few month of their fall from bed sores and pulmonary embolisms.

The price of a broken hip:
Mortality rates in the first year following a broken hip are around 25%, and the rates are highest in older populations. The cause of mortality following a hip fracture is often due to blood clots, pneumonia, or infection. Furthermore, only about 25% of patients return to their pre-injury level of activity.

The majority of patients will require prolonged specialized care, such as a long-term nursing or rehabilitation facility. After one year, mortality rates return to normal, but a patient who previously sustained a hip fracture is at higher risk of breaking their hip again.

Chronic Arthritis
Many people start to feel pain and stiffness in their bodies over time. Sometimes their hands or knees or hips get sore and are hard to move. These people may have arthritis. Arthritis is an illness that can cause pain and swelling in your joints. Over time, the joint can become severely damaged. Joints are places where two bones meet, such as your elbow or knee.

It's true that arthritis can be painful, but there are things you can do to feel better. There are several kinds of arthritis. The two most common ones are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. This is the form that usually comes with age and most often affects the fingers, knees, shoulder and hips. Sometimes osteoarthritis follows an injury. A young person might hurt his knee badly playing soccer. Then, years after the knee has apparently healed, he might get arthritis in his knee joint.

Rheumatoid arthritis happens when the body’s own defense system doesn't work properly. It affects joints, bones, and organs (often the hands and feet). You may feel sick or tired, and you may have a fever. Food intolerance and yeast overgrowth and heavy metal toxicity may trigger auto-immunity.

Other conditions can also cause arthritis as with gout, a condition where uric acid crystals build up over time in the joints. Perhaps due to poor circulation to the feet, gout usually affects the big toe.

Arthritis Pain increases when exposed to cold wet climates, even air conditioning, and decreases with stretching and exercise and anti-inflammatory drugs. Bromeline, a substance found in pineapples, increases the oil lubricating the joints and decreases pain. So does drinking a lot of water. Occasional injections of cortisone or lubricating substances like hyaluronic acids can give several months of relief. Advanced cases may require joint replacement.

Star foods for bones and joints: Artichoke, cabbage, low fat cheese, cucumber, fish oil, ginger, green beans, oily fish, radish and onions.

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