Bone health & the heart. I know most people think of taking extra calcium for the bones, but the problem is much more complex as this study illustrates, finding 2X the risk of heart disease in those w/ low bone density. Calcium is actually a weak player. Exercise, Vit D, anti-inflammatory diet, no bad fats, strong intake of health fats. The bottom line is that we view dz as separate entities-they are NOT. If you’re at risk for one, you’re at risk for them ALL!!
Osteoporosis Cures and Bone Health
STUDY ON WHOLE BODY VIBRATION
Worried about falling? Weak legs? A study of 65 yr olds on whole body vibration used 3, 10 minute session for 3 days in a row and found 20% imp’t in swaying, massive 55% increase in vertical jump height (NBA anyone?) & 35% increased leg power. From a very simple intervention. AND it increases bone strength!
Contrast w/ muscle relaxers, pain killers & antidepressants that INCREASE risk of falls! We’ve had very positive response to our unit. But stay away from the cam-driven ones, stick w/ sonic WBV.
LOW BONE DENSITY? THIS MAY BE WHY..
This is not the first time I’ve addressed bone health and I’m pretty certain it won’t be the last. I’m just not sure why my message hasn’t yet changed public policy as it relates to bone health.. Here’s a little secret.
Bone health has virtually nothing to do with calcium. Sure, calcium is a component of bone, but so is silica, molybdenum and phosphorus (among many others). More importantly is the signals that our body sends to add or destroy bone. Our understand has moved from bone merely being an inactive calcium depot to bone being a very active and important player in our risk for diabetes and body composition.
So the recommendations for bone health are not isolated to a single nutrient or single change such as weight bearing exercise. Bone is merely reflective of our overall health. Better health = better bones.
This is exemplified by this particular study. Researchers looked at dietary patterns and how they related to bone health. A clear pattern existed with those with the worst dietary patterns (high consumption of refined cereals, soft drinks, fried potatoes, sausages and processed meat, vegetable oils, beer, and takeaway foods and low consumption of other vegetables, vegetable dishes, tea, coffee, fruit, wholegrain breads, and breakfast cereals) clearly had lower bone density than those with the better habits (high consumption of legumes, seafood, seeds, nuts, wine, rice and rice dishes, other vegetables, and vegetable dishes and low consumption of bacon and ham).
Pretty basic and clear cut. Think on this scary thought. How many teens are sitting on their collective duffs not exercising (bad for bone) eating the poor dietary pattern noted above. This is an absolute recipe for disastrous bone health very early on.
BONE FRACTURES = HEART DISEASE?
I’ve always contended that the human body cares not one squat about the artificial delineations we have created in Westernized medicine. The body does not recognize that “cardiovascular” problem independently from an “endocrine” problem from a “gastroenterological” problem.
Instead, every single system in the human body interacts with other systems. The degree of this is so complex as to make our division into “specialties” laughable. Dr. Jeffrey Bland (a strong influence on the way I view health) always called it “knowing more and more about less and less.”
To me, helping patients to make lifestyle changes that will lower their risk of chronic disease, there is NO differentiation between heart disease and diabetes. These two conditions are so tightly linked that anything that affects one affects both. Heck, 70% of diabetics die of cardiovascular issues and we want to consider them separate conditions, both treated by different specialists.
So, the results of this study finding that, in those with heart disease there is a strong correlation with the risk of fractures. This relationship has actually been getting stronger over the past decade or so–likely because we have more sick people with heart disease rather than dead people who had heart attacks. Live people are more likely to suffer a fracture…
The bottom line is that lifestyle changes to improve a condition are nonspecific and will lower your risk across the board for all chronic diseases. This is the beauty of lifestyle changes and the glaring failure of pharmaceutical dominated medicine, which touts one cure for one disease.
PAST 25 YEARS OLD? HAVE YOU HAD YOUR BONE DENSITY CHECKED YET?
For several years now our office has used an in-house DXA scan for bone density of the wrist. We strongly promote anyone over 25 to have their bone density checked. Much like everything else in this country, we wait until the crisis stage (post menopausal female) to check bone density because this is when we can begin to medicate. However, the problem begins much, much sooner.
The past decade has brought some pretty amazing insights into just how interactive our bone tissue is. We used to think of it as some inert tissue that our muscles and ligaments attached to in order to facilitate movement. We now know that bone plays an integral role in the immune system, in maintaining ideal body weight and in keeping diabetes at bay. Likewise, many other organ systems in the body play a role in bone health.
That means that bone can be a strong reflection of our overall health. That means that checking it early as yet another indicator of how healthy we are is important and yet underrated in medicine today.
It is a little frightening when we run bone density testing events and 1/2 to 2/3 of the patients we test under 45 have 3, 5, 10 or even 15% less bone density than they should have for their age. This means that osteoporosis will be certain decades later when the “guidelines” suggest this patient should have been screened.
A low score indicates that something is off with our health and we need to fix that. Vitamin D, exercise, an anti-diabetic lifestyle, gastrointestinal issues, stress… The list is quite long for what can negatively affect bone.
The bottom line? Get tested early. Don’t wait until you’re 55 or 60 whether you’re a male of female. The information could be lifesaving.
SNACK ON THESE TO PROTECT YOUR BONES
In previous articles, we’ve learned that osteoporosis is not a static disease of the bone, but is more appropriately termed bone health because it reflects the true dynamic of balance between adding bone and losing bone as well as how bone affects other systems in the body and vice versa.
One of the clear factors in bone health is inflammation. Inflammation caused by poor quality lifestyle choices (stress, refined carbs, hydrogenated oils, not enough good fats, not enough fruits and veggies, too many calories, etc..) causes bone to make more osteoclasts–the cells that break down bone. So, more inflammation = more bone loss.
This particular study adds more to the long list of benefits of nuts on our health. In this particular case, having about 1/4 cup of almonds (60g) suppressed the formation of osteoclasts, which would translate to improved bone health. Keep in mind that the common osteoporotic drugs like Boniva and Fosamax don’t even do this–they bind up the osteoclast after it’s been made. Much like the proverbial barn door.
Important factor when buying nuts…NEVER get them with added oils. Cottonseed, peanut or any other oils should NOT be a part of your nut purchase. The addition of these oils will completely undo anything you are trying to do with the nuts.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0026049510003008
YOU NEED TO TAKE THIS WITH YOUR OSTEOPOROSIS DRUG
While I hope that things will change as time and research moves on, I do not remember a time that a patient has come into my office that had been placed on some type of anti-resorptive therapy (Fosamax, Boniva, Actonel, Zometa) for osteoporosis that were recommended to take anything other than calcium. As current research is demonstrating, this recommendation falls far short of providing a benefit.
Remember that these drugs do NOT add bone. Most everyone seems to be under this impression, but it is not true. They merely slow down our body’s breakdown of bone by irreversibly binding the osteoclast cells that break down bone. The standard recommendation has been to take calcium, but this again is falling short in the recent research. And keep in mind that a large chunk of people taking this class of drugs do not respond at all (this article notes the number is about 30%).
Vitamin D, however, stands strong in bone health. This particular study looks at patients’ response to drug therapy and finds that, in those with low levels of Vitamin D, they did not respond to the drug. Imagine the decades that these drugs have been used and the ramifications of this study. Not only are we treating bone density issues inappropriately (more on this in a minute), but it means we have been falling short on what benefit there may be by taking years for clinical recommendations from the research to be put into play.
A few side notes. First, osteopenia vs osteoporosis. WE DO NOT USE DRUGS TO TREAT OSTEOPENIA!!!!!!!!!!!! Ugh!! Can’t tell you how often I have to address this issue. There are no clinical trials or drug approvals that I’m aware of (could just be out of date) that use drug therapy to treat osteopenia. Why? Because the actual risk of fracture is someone with osteopenia is very low. Rather, it is an indication that the trajectory of bone health is in the wrong direction. This is a lifestyle issue that needs to be fixed.
So, if the risk at that point in life is very low, that means that, to lower the risk of fracture in the future when the risk becomes more imminent, the patient will need to be on these drugs for a long time. However, the research suggests that 3-5 years is about how long someone should be on these drugs because it increases the risk of atypical fractures. Thus, you do NOT medicate osteopenia!
On to the real problem. Bone health is a lifestyle issue. It has to do with activity levels. Vitamin D levels. It has to deal with inflammation (increased inflammation makes more of the osteoclasts that break down bone so, more inflammation = more bone breakdown). It has to deal with poor digestion / gut stress. And yes–I said the gut. Growing evidence is suggesting that the gut and serotonin derived from the gut when it is inflamed is a major player in bone loss.
So you can see why the recommendations to just add calcium or to take Fosamax is very short sighted and in no way addresses the real concerns that have to deal with bone health.
INFLAMMATION CAN DESTROY YOUR BONES
Inflammation. We hear the term tossed around an awful lot in today’s healthcare / chronic disease environment. But not everyone understands what this means. Most of us are familar with the inflammation that comes from a sprained ankle. The hallmarks of inflammation are calor (heat), tumor (swelling), rubor (redness) and dolaor (pain) and all these come to mind when dealing with a sprain. This process is mediated by chemicals that are designed to stem the damage and fix the injury.
But what about the flu? A bacterial infection? The same process occurs, but it is no longer localized to the injured area. The chemicals released flow throughout the body. The number of chemicals is quite large and consists of molecules called cytokines and consists of interluekins, chemokines and lymphokines. The secretion of these compounds determine our body’s response to a percieved or actual problem. The balance of their activity is akin to a massively complex orchestra; send it out of tune and the results can be devastating.
In this particular article, researchers looked more closely at the finding that inflammation has a strong detrimental effect on bone health. While they were able to confirm that inflamation indeed sucks calcium out of bones, what they find is not so simple. It appears that different aspects of the immune system will pull calcium from the bones, while other aspects protect the bone.
Until we get a clearer picture, the key concept here is immune balance. This is, of course, achieved early in life by making sure we have the right bacteria in our gut, breastfeed as long as possible, avoid unneccesary immunization and, later in life keep our gut and oral health up, identify food allergies such as gluten, eat a diet high in minerals like zinc, potassium and calcium as well as phytonutrients and keep optimal levels of Vitamin D in our bloodstream.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2362.2011.02545.x/abstract