CAUTION!
This is an outdated drug that doesn’t work very well. Please don’t use it unless there’s a very good reason.
Natural Remedies for Osteoporosis
Now that we know the process of preventing osteoporosis begins early in life, we are hearing about sugary drinks fortified with calcium for teenagers, antacids with calcium, and calcium supplements. Osteoporosis is not a calcium deficiency disease; it is a disease of excessive calcium loss. In other words, you can take all the calcium supplements you want, but if your diet and lifestyle choices are unhealthy, or you’re taking prescription drugs that cause you to lose calcium, you will still lose more calcium from your bones than you can take in through diet.
In fact, getting adequate calcium is only a small part of the prevention picture. Please pass up the sugary drinks and antacids. The damage that refined sugar does to a growing teenage body or even an adult body far outweighs any benefit that might come from a little calcium supplementation. There is even some evidence that sugar depletes calcium, so the added calcium in these drinks may only be balancing out the damage done by the sugar. The same goes for antacids containing calcium. Since antacids tend to cause you to lose calcium, the added calcium may only offset that damage.
Although osteoporosis is not a calcium deficiency disease, you can rest assured that getting adequate calcium is an important factor in preventing osteoporosis. Some good food sources of calcium are snow peas; broccoli; leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, and beet and turnip greens; almonds; figs; beans (soybeans are the best); nonfat milk; yogurt; and cottage cheese. Please don’t depend on milk to get your calcium. This is because milk has a poor calcium-to-magnesium ratio. Your body needs a certain amount of magnesium to get the calcium into your bones—without magnesium, calcium can’t build strong bones.
In fact, magnesium deficiency may be more common in women with osteoporosis than calcium deficiency. Although many fruits and vegetables have some magnesium in them, especially good sources of magnesium are whole grains, wheat bran, leafy green vegetables, nuts (almonds are a very rich source of magnesium and calcium), beans, bananas, and apricots.
Trace minerals are also important in helping your body absorb calcium. Eating plenty of leafy green vegetables gives you calcium along with these helpful trace minerals. Boron and manganese are especially important. Foods that contain boron include apples, legumes, almonds, pears, and leafy green vegetables. Foods that include manganese include ginger, buckwheat, and oats. Be sure you’re getting 1 to 5 mg of boron in your daily multivitamin or osteoporosis formula.
The organic matter in our bones consists mainly of collagen, the “glue” that holds together skin, ligaments, tendons, and bones. Zinc, copper, beta-carotene, and vitamin C are all important to the formation and maintenance of collagen in the body. If you’re following the Six Core Principles for Optimal Health, you’ll be getting plenty of these vitamins.
Japanese women have a significantly lower rate of osteoporosis than American women do, even though they tend to be smaller, and it’s likely that their high consumption of soy products is a factor. Studies are showing that some aspect of soy—most likely, the phytoestrogens they contain—have bone-strengthening effects. Recent research published in the Journal of Women’s Health and Gender-Based Medicine found that postmenopausal women who ate a lot of soy foods had greater spinal bone density than those who didn’t. Adding soy products such as miso, tempeh, and tofu to your diet in moderate amounts may contribute to better overall health and stronger bones.
Progesterone, Testosterone, and Osteoporosis
John Lee, M.D., an internationally known expert on women’s hormones, has suggested that one of the important factors in osteoporosis is a lack of progesterone, which causes a decrease in new bone formation. He and others have extensive clinical experience showing that using a natural progesterone cream will actively increase bone mass and density in women with significant bone loss and can reverse osteoporosis. These patients consistently show as much as a 29 percent increase in bone mineral density in three years or less of progesterone therapy. After treating hundreds of patients with osteoporosis over a period of 15 years, Dr. Lee found that those women with the lowest bone densities experienced the greatest relative improvement, and those who already had good bone density maintained their strong bones. Some of his patients were taking both progesterone and estrogen, which simultaneously encourages bone building and slows bone loss.
Postmenopausal women using a transdermal (on the skin) progesterone cream or oil should use the equivalent of 15 to 20 mg daily for three weeks out of the month, with a week off each month to maintain the sensitivity of the progesterone receptors.
Testosterone is also an important bone-building hormone in women. Please review the information in Chapter 19 about testosterone to find out if you might be a candidate for supplementation.
Nutritional Supplements for Osteoporosis
Calcium
Everyone should get at least 1,200 mg of calcium daily through diet, supplements, or a combination. Although you can easily get that much with a healthy diet, taking a calcium-magnesium supplement can be a wise form of health insurance for some women. In fact, calcium supplements can help slow bone loss in some women. To be incorporated into bone, calcium requires the help of enzymes, which require magnesium and vitamin B6 to work properly. We tend to be more deficient in magnesium and B6 than we are in calcium.
If you’re female and over the age of 12, you should be taking at least 400 mg of calcium, combined with 200 to 400 mg of magnesium every day. If you can find a formula that also includes vitamin B6, so much the better.
Sunshine Is the Best Medicine: Vitamin D
Vitamin D is another important ingredient in the recipe for strong bones because it stimulates the absorption of calcium. A deficiency of vitamin D can cause calcium loss. The best way to get vitamin D is from direct sunlight on the skin. Sunlight stimulates a chain of events in the skin leading to the production of vitamin D in the liver and kidneys. (This is why liver and kidney disease can produce a vitamin D deficiency.) Going outside for just a few minutes a day can give us all the vitamin D we need; yet many people don’t even do that. They go from their home, to their car, to their office, and back home, without spending more than a few seconds outdoors. Many elderly people are unable to get outside without assistance, but their getting outside safely every day should be a priority for their caretakers.
Recent studies have shown that the RDA for vitamin D of 400 IU daily is far too low. Most Americans are deficient in vitamin D, which raises the risk of a number of cancers, including breast and colon cancer, as well as heart disease and osteoporosis. Most experts now agree that the average person should get 1,000 to 2,000 IU daily of vitamin D, as vitamin D3(not D2), and should also spend 15 to 20 minutes a day in the sun, without sunblock. This being said, you should not get a sunburn. If you’re not used to being in the sun, increase your exposure gradually.
Stomach Acid: Betaine Hydrochloride
As we age, we tend to produce less stomach acid. To be absorbed, calcium requires vitamin D and stomach acid. For this reason, it’s important to avoid antacids and the H2 blockers such as Tagamet and Zantac, which block or suppress the secretion of stomach acid. Contrary to what the makers of heartburn and indigestion remedies would have you believe, the last thing in the world most people need is less stomach acid. Heartburn and indigestion are caused by poor eating habits and a lack of stomach acid. Ulcers are caused by a bacteria, not by too much stomach acid. (See Chapter 11 for more information on preventing heartburn and indigestion.) A simple way to improve your calcium absorption may be to take a betaine hydrochloride supplement just before or with meals, to increase your stomach acid. You can find betaine hydrochloride at your health food store.
To Absorb Calcium and Build Bones We Need . . .
Exercise
Hydrochloric acid in the stomach
Magnesium
Proge
sterone (women) or testosterone (men)
Vitamin D
Vitamin K (found abundantly in deep-green leafy vegetables)
These Deplete Calcium and Magnesium
Alcohol
Lack of exercise
Lack of the hormone progesterone or testosterone
Phosphorus (found in soda)
Sugar
Too much protein
The Collagen Vitamins and Minerals: Zinc, and Vitamins A and C
Collagen is the tissue that makes up your bones. To build collagen, you need vitamin A (or beta-carotene), zinc, and vitamin C. Vitamin C is especially important, as it is the primary ingredient in the collagen matrix.
What to Avoid to Prevent Osteoporosis
We’ve known for decades that certain medications can contribute to bone loss. They include steroids such as prednisone, and calcium-channel-blocking drugs for hypertension such as Procardia and Norvasc. Now we can add three other classes of drugs to the list:
• Acid-suppressing drugs used for heartburn, such as Prilosec, Prevacid, and Nexium
• Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants such as Celexa, Zoloft, Prozac, and Paxil
• Diabetes drugs such as Avandia and Actos
Heartburn or Hip Fracture?
A major heartburn drug study examined the medical records of 13,000 people who had suffered a hip fracture and compared them with 135,000 similar people who had never had a hip fracture.
Those who had used the family of heartburn drugs known as proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for more than a year had a whopping 44 percent higher risk of hip fracture. Those taking the drugs at the highest doses for the longest period of time had the highest risk of hip fracture. Critics of the study point out that so-called retrospective research looking back at medical records tends to be less accurate, but even if the PPI users had a 22 percent risk instead of 44 percent risk, it would still be a very high number.
It’s theorized that the PPIs probably cause bone loss that leads to hip fracture by interfering with the absorption of nutrients that build bone, such as calcium and other minerals.
The PPIs can be a very useful short-term solution for stopping heartburn, but it’s important to make the lifestyle changes that can prevent heartburn and get off the drugs.
Antidepressants
The research on SSRIs and bone loss is smaller but still important. A Canadian study was done at McGill University that began with a pool of 5,008 randomly selected people over 50 and followed them for five years. Of that group, 137 were taking SSRIs, and they were found to have 2.1 times the risk of bone fractures—in other words, double the risk of a fracture. Although this was a relatively small group taking the SSRIs, the researchers took into account many other risk factors for bone fractures and still got the same result. Some critics argue that people who are depressed fall more often, but the study showed that the SSRI users had “fragility” fractures, meaning broken bones caused by relatively minor incidents like falling out of bed—it didn’t take much for their bones to break.
Diabetes Drugs
The FDA has issued warnings that women who take the type-2 diabetes drugs Avandia (rosiglita-zone) or Actos (pioglitazone) have an increased risk of upper arm, hand, and foot fractures. Women taking these drugs had double the fracture risk of women taking other types of type-2 diabetes drugs.
Triple Prescription-Drug Bone-Loss Whammy
It’s common to find senior citizens on multiple prescription drugs. Some of the most common include prednisone, calcium channel blockers, and PPIs—all now linked to bone fractures. There are many reasons to avoid prescription drugs in general, and now we can add bone loss to the list.
Break the Soda Habit
There’s a good chance that one of the leading contributors to osteoporosis in the United States is carbonated soft drinks containing phosphorus. Research has shown a direct link between too much phosphorus and calcium loss. If you’re guzzling down a couple of fizzy soft drinks a day, you’re most likely creating bone loss.
Our other source of excessive phosphorus in the United States is eating too much meat. The average American gets more than enough protein, so for most of us it can only help to cut down on our meat consumption. A recent trend among those who love meat but don’t love the consequences of too much fat and protein is to use meat as a garnish or flavoring in a meal, rather than as a major portion. Fill up on vegetables first and complex carbohydrates (whole grains, potatoes, rice, corn, beans) second, and use meat to enrich your meals. Beans are an excellent and nutritious source of protein and contain many important vitamins and minerals.
Coffee, Alcohol, and Cigarette Smoking
Here’s yet another good reason to either give up coffee and alcohol or use them in moderation. And do you need to be told how important it is to stop smoking now? (It’s never too late to reap the benefits of quitting smoking.) Each of these substances creates a negative calcium balance in the body. Substances called phytates and oxylates bind with calcium in the large intestine and form insoluble salts, rendering the calcium useless. The bone mineral content of smokers is 15 to 30 percent lower in women and 10 to 20 percent lower in men. Cigarette smoking is a significant risk factor for osteoporosis. Twice as many women with osteoporosis smoke as compared with women who do not have osteoporosis.
Aluminum
Don’t take antacids with aluminum, and don’t use aluminum cooking pots. It has been shown that small amounts of aluminum-containing antacids increase the urinary and fecal excretion of calcium, inhibit absorption of fluoride, and inhibit absorption of phosphorus, creating a negative calcium balance. The calcium is excreted instead of being used. Aluminum is also found in tap water, processed cheese, toothpastes, and white flour.
Diuretics
Diuretics are medicines that cause water loss in the body. Along with the water, you lose minerals, most notably calcium, magnesium, and potassium. They are commonly used in conventional medicine to treat high blood pressure, swelling of the lower legs, and congestive heart disease. People who use diuretics have a higher risk of fracture. If you need to use a diuretic, first try a gentle herbal one such as dandelion root in a tincture, capsule, or tea.
High-Dose Cortisone
A well-known risk for osteoporosis is long-term treatment with the synthetic cortisones such as prednisone. Since the cortisones are closely related to progesterone in their molecular structure, the theory is that they compete for the same receptor sites on bone-building cells. However, while progesterone gives bones the message to grow, the cortisones give bones the message to stop growing. If you must be on a cortisone, talk to your physician about using a low-dose natural cortisone called hydrocortisone rather than the synthetic cortisones. You can refer him or her to the classic book The Safe Uses of Cortisol by William McK. Jefferies, M.D., FACP (Charles C. Thomas Publisher, 1996).
Fluoride Is Bad for Your Bones
The common and seemingly irrefutable wisdom is that cavities in the United States have been greatly decreased by the addition of fluoride to our drinking water and our toothpaste. But it’s not true, and fluoride is most likely doing a great deal of harm.
The original studies that were supposed to show how well fluoridated communities did are highly suspect. The original U.S. Public Health study on fluoridation was supposed to compare hundreds of communities, but the final study included only a few dozen, presumably those that fit the desired profluoridation profile. And even those were flawed. For example, two towns in Michigan were compared for dental cavities, but those children studied in the fluoridated community were from families with higher incomes, received regular dental checkups, and agreed to brush their teeth twice a day. It wouldn’t seem strange that they would have a lower rate of cavities, with or without fluoride. “But,” you may be protesting, “I had lots of cavities when I was a kid, and my kids hardly have any. It must be due to fluoride.” Not so. In both fluoridated and unfluoridated areas in North America and Europe, the de
cline in tooth decay has been the same for 30 years. This even holds true for entire countries in Europe that have never had fluoridated water or toothpaste.
What has changed is that dental hygiene has improved, nutrition has improved, and access to dental care has improved. Studies do show a strong correlation between higher rates of tooth decay and lower economic status.
Japan and all of continental Europe either rejected the fluoride concept from the beginning or have stopped the practice. Most of Great Britain has also discontinued the practice, and Australia and New Zealand are in the process of reversing the trend. A 1994 study of virtually all New Zealand schoolchildren showed no benefit in dental health in fluoridated communities.
What’s so bad about fluoride? There is good, solid evidence in reputable studies that fluoridated drinking water increases your risk of hip fractures by 20 to 40 percent. For a while, it was thought that fluoride might actually help prevent osteoporosis. But long-term studies with hundreds of thousands of people proved the wisdom of checking things out thoroughly. There is a clear correlation between bone fractures and fluoridation. It turns out that while fluoride does create denser bone, it is poor-quality, structurally unsound bone that is actually more prone to fracture over the long term.
So much fluoride has been put into our water and toothpaste over the past 30 years that levels in our food chain are very high. While eating a normal diet the average person exceeds the recommended dose. Fluoride is a potent enzyme inhibitor that interferes with enzymes in the body, particularly in the lining of your intestines, causing stomach pain, gas, and bloating. This enzyme-inhibiting effect also interferes with thyroid gland function. Some studies indicate that fluoride damages the immune system, leading to autoimmune disorders and arthritis. There is also evidence that communities with fluoridated water have a higher incidence of heart disease and higher rates of bone cancer in young men. Some 30 percent of children in fluoridated communities have fluorosis, a malformation of tooth enamel that causes discoloration (usually chalky white patches) and brittleness. This is a permanent change in the teeth that has also been associated with abnormal bone structure.
Prescription Alternatives Page 55