Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Researchers are studying different nutrients for space flights that can help support the health of astronauts. They’re specifically looking at melatonin for bone health and for good reason.
Hip fractures are dangerous, painful and expensive to treat. So, how do you reduce your risk? You have to strengthen your bones. Here’s how.
strontium
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Strontium is a mineral and it has many similarities with the mineral calcium, especially when it comes to bone. Strontium has been shown to reduce the rate of bone loss while improving the rate of bone formation, making strong bones, and it works in newly formed bone. The caveat with strontium is you take it at a separate time from calcium because they will attach to each other and you’re not going to absorb either. You can take calcium with food, in fact, that’s a perfect time to take your calcium. This mineral has to be taken away from food.
Research on Strontium
This first report is from the journal Current Opinion in Pharmacology, so it’s a pharmacy journal. It’s from Inserm in Paris, France. Inserm is a huge institution that has over 100 different departments. It’s loaded with thousands and thousands of medical doctors, scientists and other researchers. They write, “Clinical studies show that strontium ranelate reduces the rate of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures and post-menopausal osteoporosis.” This is a strontium injection that they use in Europe. We use a strontium capsule called strontium citrate in America. Nonvertebral means fractures outside of the spine and vertebral means fractures within the spine. The researchers said, “Recent advances point to unique effects of strontium ranelate on bone cells and show that strontium ranelate has significant clinical benefits in the treatment of post-menopausal osteoporosis,” which is bone loss in older women.
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Here’s another study from The Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. It was done at the University of Antwerp, where researchers say strontium is a natural constituent of foods and beverages, so meat, chicken and poultry, vegetables and fruit have very low amounts of strontium. When you eat asparagus or lettuce, you’re getting some. It’s in higher amounts in grains, like whole grain cereals, and seafood. They go on to say, “Hence, the strontium content of the human diet and the daily intake varies according to where you live and the type of food you eat.” That makes sense.
Now they’re talking about strontium metabolism, which means how it’s absorbed, where it goes and how it’s disposed of from the body. They said that gastrointestinal absorption of this mineral largely depends on age and may vary from 90% of the element’s dietary intake in infants to only 10% in the elderly. When you’re eating vegetables, chicken and whole wheat cereal, young people absorb a lot more than the elderly people. This is important because this mineral is really important for your bones.
Tune into the full podcast episode for more research indicating the importance of strontium in the body.
Supplementing with Strontium
When you take strontium, you take it in between meals and you don’t take it with other supplements. You don’t take it with your calcium or your Vitamin D or anything like that.
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Let’s say you’re a 73-year-old woman. You’ve been on Fosamax alendronate for three years and your bones haven’t really improved that much. You’ve been taking your calcium and Vitamin D. Well, bones are not just calcium, Vitamin D and a drug. They’re much more complex than that. Take strontium. You also need an alkaline-type diet, so you need to have your fruits and vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables like lettuce. This supports bone health because it makes the blood more alkaline. If your blood becomes too acidic, it may borrow minerals from your bones to make itself more alkaline, causing you to lose bone.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.
The weakening of your bones and the decrease in your bone mineral density is important to understand for both men and women for all ages. Let’s talk about all different and important aspects of bone health and what you should do to maintain their strength as you age.
Oftentimes, many individuals are unaware that there are two forms of Vitamin K – Vitamin K1 and Vitamin K2. On today’s episode, we are going to talk about the difference between these two forms and the science behind how they are utilized by the human body.
Invite Health Podcast, Episode hosted by Jerry Hickey. Ph
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Can Vitamin D improve strength in younger people and help you keep mobile when you are older? That’s what we’re going to be discussing on today’s podcast episode. There are numerous studies that say that is true! Let’s discuss.
A recent headline reads, “Can Vitamin D Make You Stronger?” Well, a study from the University of Birmingham makes that case. Increased levels of Vitamin D led to stronger leg strength, according to the study published in the journal PLOS One. The level of Vitamin D was studied based on blood levels, not just dietary consumption. If you have young, healthy skin and you are out in the sun, the sun interacts with the cholesterol in your skin, then your liver, and then your kidneys all to be converted into the active form. In this particular study, researchers used the active form of Vitamin D.
A review of 310 adults (between the ages of 21 and 32) from seven different human clinical trials from Queen Mary University in London, found that Vitamin D supplementation increased upper arm and lower leg strength. The precursor that is stored in the liver is not yet activated (it has to go through the kidneys to be activated). The amount coming from the liver is easy to check because it is stored in the blood for two weeks. This level should be at least 35 and these studied indicate that that is enough to provide the muscle strength benefit. This does not mean that a level of 35 is perfect for all of the different benefits and attributes that come from the vitamin. Some of the its activities require higher levels in the blood, like a level of 50 or 55. I believe that a level between 50 to 75 is perfect. That Vitamin D then travels to the kidneys, interacts with Magnesium and is then converted to the fully active form.
Vitamin D Sports Injury Studies
The National Football League (NFL) holds a combine, where college athletes are tested in front of coaches and scouts. In 2014, the blood levels of vitamin D in 214 athletes were studied by researchers and they found that the athletes that had low levels, also had a higher risk of breaking or fracturing a bone and poorer muscle function. Over half of the athletes trying out for the NFL (59%) had inadequate Vitamin D. An additional 10% were actually deficient. The Hospital for Special Surgery in New York reported, “our study revealed that 86% of the players who missed competition because of strain injury had inadequate levels of Vitamin D. Lower extremity muscle strength or core muscle injury was present in 50% of athletes, which was stronger associated with lower Vitamin D levels.”
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A study done of the Pittsburgh Steelers found that 69% of the team members had low Vitamin D. They collected this data pre-season during their training camp. Those with the lowest levels were much more likely to get injured and were released from the team due to their injury. A separate study in 2011 was done on the New York Giants, where 30% of the team members had low levels themselves (to the point of deficient), 51% were insufficient (low but not deficient), and 17% were normal. They found that muscle injury was strongly correlated with the amount of Vitamin D.
Thank you for tuning in to the Invite Health Podcast. You can find all of our episodes for free wherever you listen to podcasts or by visiting www.invitehealth.com/podcast. Make sure you subscribe and leave us a review! Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Invite Health today. We’ll see you next time on another episode of the Invite Health Podcast.