THE IMPORTANCE OF BONE HEALTH
by Dr. Perricone
When I started researching this chapter, I had no idea how
radicalized I would become about healthy bones and their crucial
function in all aspects of healthy aging and disease prevention.
In fact, this is one of the most important chapters in this book
because, as you will learn, healthy bones are the very foundation
of our immune system, and until now, we did not have the most
ideal strategies to ensure that we could prevent bone loss.
Bone formation - the acquisition of bone mineral density
(BMD)peaks between the ages of 20 and 30. After the age of 35,
both men and women begin to lose bone mass unless they take
action to prevent it. Unfortunately, at that age few of us are
thinking about our health, our longevity, or anything in between.
By the time we begin to think about our bones, we may have
already suffered serious damage. It seems hard to believe that
this can happen so early in our lives. Often our conception of
age-related bone loss is that of a person of advanced age -
seventies or eighties - bent under the burden of the dowager's
hump.
You need to protect your bones from an early age. If you are in
your twenties or thirties and reading this chapter, you can take
active steps to prevent future problems. If you are older, take
heart because there are exciting new strategies that can make a
significant difference now.
***Regular exercise is far and away the single most important
action we can take to prevent and help reverse bone loss.***
Unfortunately, we are raising a generation of couch potatoes and
computer/video jockeys who rarely exercise. If you happen to be a
small Caucasian female with a penchant for dieting, the risk of
bone loss is even greater. But there is good news. According to
many studies, a high-intensity exercise program prevents bone
loss in early postmenopausal women with low bone density.
The Weighting Game
As many studies affirm, weight-bearing exercises have an
extremely beneficial effect on bone mass and bone density. The
pressure exerted on the bones during this type of exercise
stimulates the building of bone. Ideally, your exercise routines
will be complex and will involve the total body; in this way you
can achieve the greatest benefits.
(Does this mean you have to join a gym and lift weights?
Certainly you can if you are so inclined. But the old Mr.Health
and Strength guy - Charles Atlas, used "dynamic tension" - it's
pushing/pulling one muscle against another, i.e. push down on
your right hand as you push up to the shoulder with the right
arm, then as you push down resist with the right arm. All kinds
of pull/push/resist exercises you can invent. Take a good long
fast walk, and tense the leg muscles some of the time, spring up
on your toes as you walk some of the time - Keith Hunt)
A Step in the Right Direction
In conjunction with weight training, I recommend a thirty-minute
brisk walk or jog every day. My colleague Harry Preuss, M.D., and
I are firm believers in the use of pedometers to encourage an
active lifestyle.
A pedometer senses your body motion and counts your footsteps. If
you are like me, you enjoy a challenge - and a pedometer
motivates me to increase my movements. Many of us spend long
hours in front of computers, and wearing the pedometer reminds us
of just how sedentary our lives have become. If it is 10 A.M. and
you glance at the pedometer and see that it is registering a
meager 200 steps and your goal is 10,000 per day, it can help
spur you into immediate action. I set a goal each day and am
always delighted when I exceed it. You need to take 6,000 steps
per day for overall good health and as many as 10,000 steps per
day for weight loss. It is never too late to start an exercise
program, and consistency is always the key. Walking is a great
default exercise program in that you don't need a gym; the only
equipment you need is a pair of good walking shoes, and, weather
permitting, walking is something you can do 365 days a year.
Who Is at Risk?
According to information from the National Osteoporosis
Foundation posted on the National Institute of Health's Web site
(www.osteo.org), the following factors can put you at increased
risk for osteoporosis:
History of fracture after age 50.
Current low bone mass.
History of fracture in a close relative.
Being female.
Being thin and/or having a small frame.
Advanced age (osteoporosis is a major public health threat for 55
percent of people 50 years of age and older; the older you are,
the greater the risk).
A family history of osteoporosis.
Low lifetime calcium intake.
Vitamin D deficiency.
An inactive lifestyle.
For women only: estrogen deficiency as a result of menopause,
especially early or surgically induced. Also, women who stop
menstruating before menopause because of conditions such as
anorexia or bulimia or because of excessive physical exercise are
at greater risk.
For men only: low testosterone levels.
For both men and women: use of certain medications to treat
chronic medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis,
endocrine disorders (i.e., an underactive thyroid, which can be
helped by coconut oil), seizure disorders, and gastrointestinal
diseases may have side effects that can damage bone and lead to
osteoporosis. One class of drugs that has particularly damaging
effects on the skeleton is glucocorticoids (a group of steroids
that have metabolic and antiinflammatory effects). "The following
drugs can also cause bone loss:
Excessive thyroid hormones
Anticonvulsants
Antacids containing aluminum
These facts notwithstanding, the news is particularly grim for
women. It is difficult to overstate the importance of BMD, which
is often viewed as the "gold standard" for bone health.
Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, BMD is decreasing in
women in the United States. In 2004, Bone Health and
Osteoporosis: A Report of the Surgeon General predicted that by
2020 (a scant decade away) half of all American citizens older
than 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis and low
bone mass if no immediate action is taken. The report concluded
that Americans' bone health is in jeopardy due to increasingly
sedentary lifestyles, an absence of current information about
bone health (which this chapter will hope to alleviate), and
inadequate nutrition. The surgeon general recommended that people
of all ages ensure that they get the recommended amounts of
calcium and vitamin D, and that supplementation may be helpful.
Pointing out that people are never too young or too old to
improve their bone health, the surgeon general issued a "call to
action" for the development and evaluation of bone health
programs that incorporated three components: (1) improved health
literacy, (2) increased physical activity, and (3) improved
nutrition.
Though this is a vitally important initiative for everyone, women
in particular need to be educated on their risks, which pose a
significant threat to BMD with the passing years.
Bone loss accelerates after menopause because the female hormone
estrogen, needed to maintain bone density, is greatly reduced.
The lack of estrogen accelerates a process known as bone
remodeling, the process in which small areas of bone are
destroyed and subsequently rebuilt. Estrogen deficiency can lead
to an imbalance, resulting in more destruction and less
formation, which can predispose women to osteoporosis as they
age. If a woman's ovaries are surgically removed, even more rapid
bone loss may occur because estrogen is made primarily in the
ovaries. The most rapid rates of bone loss in women occur during
the first five years after menopause, when the decrease in the
production of estrogen results in increased bone resorption and
decreased calcium absorption. In fact, according to statistics,
women may lose as much as 3 to 5 percent of bone mass per year
during the years immediately following menopause, with decreases
of less than 1 percent per year after age 65. Two studies are in
agreement that increased calcium intake during menopause will not
completely offset menopause bone loss. Other studies show that
nutritional supplements such as silicon in the form of
choline-stabilized orthosilicic acid improves the bone health
benefits of both calcium and vitamin D. As you will discover,
specially targeted nutrients can not only slow bone loss, they
can actually encourage new bone growth.
While there is an extensive and compelling body of research
supporting the positive effects of calcium and vitamin D3 on bone
health, a review of forty-eight studies on the effects of calcium
on bone health concluded that other micronutrients are needed to
optimize bone health, including vitamin K2, magnesium, and trace
minerals. Vitamin C has also been reported as essential to
collagen formation and normal bone development.
..........
As pointed out, you need to make sure you are getting all of this
when young, and maintaining it all your life. A balanced diet of
good healthy foods should be a life style. Making sure you get
the calcium, vitamin D and the other things mentioned in
Perricone's last paragraph.
I've tried to do this since being a teenager when I sent for the
Charles Atlas "health and strength" course and was reading
"health books."
So my example: When I was 64 I made the mistake of buying an
Australian saddle that did not fit my horse Goldie. I was out on
a ranch road that in the hot summer time goes as hard as
concrete. The saddle slipped some and I tried pulling it back; I
pulled it back too far and it slipped fully to the other side,
and off I went. I came down on my left hip. The smash and pain
was so great I figured for sure I had smashed my hip and would be
in hospital with a smashed or broken hip. Well after a few very
painful minutes, I discovered my hip was just fine; I ended up
with a black and blue hip, that I put ice-packs on and a limp for
a week.
I can only say that it was my eating/vitamin suppliments and
exercise life style that I have maintained since a teenager, that
I did not even have a fracture on my hip. Falling on to your hip
from about 5 feet from a horse onto a concrete like road, at the
age of 64, and not even getting a fracture......well shows I've
done things right all my life in keeping my bones strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment