January 21, 2014

Strong & Flexible Bones By Dr. Patricia Pimentel Selassie, ND, CNS

Photo by Susanne Schwarz on Unsplash

Dr. Patricia Pimentel Selassie, ND, CNS

All of our muscles and organs are anchored to our bones. Our bones are not hard mineral sticks – bones are living organs, complex tissues that interact with all the other systems of the body. Bones even bleed! Yes, bones have a blood supply and nerve tissue. Bones can feel, and they are constantly building up and breaking down. This is called remodeling. The body remodels bones on a daily basis; it break them down to provide minerals for the body to use. As a child, your bone breaks down but gets built back up even stronger than it was previously. This remodeling occurs until we hit age 30-35, when our bones stop growing or accumulating bone mass.

Bone Health Facts and Supportive Nutrients by Jerry Hickey, R.Ph

Osteoporosis

As we get older, especially once we pass menopause or andropause (male menopause), we stop secreting the hormones that are so protective for our bones. With this, the broken down bone does not always get completely replaced, leaving a deficit every time. This deficit leaves us with thinner and weaker bones. A lot of you have probably heard the term “Osteoporosis”. Osteoporosis is defined as a medical condition in which the bones become brittle and fragile from loss of bone tissue. This is a real problem in the elderly – about 20% of women will get Osteoporosis, and 50% of all women and men will have Osteopenia, which is a reduction in bone mass. Bones break – especially in the spine. What You Should Know about Osteoporosis – Read more!

People get smaller and hunched over, organs gets squished, people get weaker, and they feel immense pain. You hear about people who fall and fracture their hip – this is a very dangerous situation because hip fractures often precede other health complications. 20% of those people having a hip fracture will die in the year following the hip fracture. And 20% of those who survive the year following a hip fracture will be placed in nursing home care. So make sure you clear your hallways, tape down your rugs, wear your glasses if you can’t see, and make sure you have good lighting to avoid hip fractures and further complications.

Three Simple Tests to Assess Your Bone Health

1. If you have lost more than 2 centimeters in height over the last 1-3 years, you have shrunk because your bones are thinner.

2. If you weigh less than 112 lbs, gravity pulls minerals into your bone – this is why weight-bearing exercise is so important.

3. If there is less than 2 fingers’ space between the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hip bone, it means you have shrunk due to thinning bones, or worse, vertebral fractures.

Important Nutrients for Bone Health

Calcium Citrate with D3

Health professionals agree that adequate levels of Vitamin D and Calcium are necessary for building strong bones. But the amount of Vitamin D thought necessary is now recognized as being sorely deficient. Our formula supplies an adequate level of the most active form of Vitamin D (D3) along with the most absorbable form of Calcium (as Calcium Citrate) to improve the strengthening of bone.

Vitamin K2 Complex with K1

Building bone requires the activity of osteocalcin and osteocalcin is a protein that places calcium squarely within the bone. Vitamin K acts as an essential binding agent in osteocalcin allowing the fusing of calcium into the bone. Various studies show that Vitamin K2 and K1 are necessary for building bone in the hip and the spine.

Strontium Citrate

Strontium is a mineral just like Calcium or Phosphorus and as it turns out Strontium has a number of activities for building strong bone. Large studies using Strontium in thousands of patients show impressive results for improving the health of the spine, hips, wrists, and other bones and the evidence shows dramatic benefits within the first year. Strontium has two actions; slowing the breakdown of bone (this is what drugs do) while improving the rate at which bone is rebuilt (this is what drugs do not do). Because of the dual activity and because Strontium is helpful in all age groups, even in those over 80, Strontium is a smart adjunct to all bone building programs. We offer Strontium as Strontium Citrate because this offers good absorption.