Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN
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| II: Himalayan Crystal Salt
Health Benefits of Himalayan Salt
• Balances blood sugar and acid levels and helps the body's cells generate electrical energy
• Acts as a natural antihistamine by regulating phlegm and mucus in the sinuses and nasal cavity
• Helps prevent osteoporosis, muscle cramping, and irregular heartbeat
• Promotes healthy sleep and intimacy patterns
How to Eliminate Toxins from Table Salt
• Replace table salt with natural Himalayan salt or Celtic Sea Salt. These are natural (not processed by humans). |
Ray D. Strand
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 This nutrient also needs to be present at optimal levels if you have any desire to prevent osteoporosis.
Folic Acid, Vitamin BB, and Vitamin B12
Does this combination sound familiar? It should. Homocysteine (see Chapter 6) is not only bad for your blood vessels, but it is also bad for your bones. Individuals with severe elevations of homocysteine have been found to have significant osteoporosis as well.
Interestingly, premenopausal women have greater efficiency in breaking down methionine and thus have little buildup of homocysteine. This changes dramatically after menopause. |
Dr. Steve Blake
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 Too little vitamin A can also be a problem because adequate vitamin A is needed to prevent osteoporosis.
Vitamin D deficiency can be a contributor to osteoporosis. Without enough vitamin D, the bones cannot properly mineralize. Either sufficient sunlight or 600 to 700 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily have been found to lower the chances of osteoporotic fracture.
Vitamin K is needed to bind minerals to bones. Vitamin K is used as a coenzyme to enable bone mineralization. Several studies have found a correlation between higher vitamin K levels and lowered risk of hip fracture. |
| To prevent osteoporosis in older people:
(a) Keep vitamin A in the diet and supplements at a minimum.
(b) Eat the RDA of vitamin A in food.
(c) Take double the RDA of vitamin A in supplement form.
(d) Take vitamin A only in the form of retinoic acid.
34. Calcidiol is:
(a) Stored in the liver.
(b) The active form of vitamin D.
(c) Made in the skin from sunlight.
(d) Made by irradiating a fungus.
35. People in areas far from the equator may get too little vitamin D because:
(a) The days are shorter.
(b) Protective clothing is common. |
| To prevent osteoporosis in older people:
(a) Minimize vitamin A in the diet and supplements.
(b) Take in the RDA of vitamin A.
(c) Take in double the RDA of vitamin A.
(d) Supplement with the maximum upper limit of vitamin A.
10. The storage form of vitamin A in the liver is:
(a) Retinyl palmitate.
(b) Retinal.
(c) Retinol.
(d) Retinoic acid.
CHAPTER 4
Vitamin D
The Sunshine Vitamin
The main function of Vitamin D is regulating calcium and phosphorus to make bones strong. Vitamin D is an unusual vitamin. |
Andreas Moritz
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 HRT Fails to Prevent Bone Loss
Many older women take HRT to prevent osteoporosis - a disease characterized by a loss of minerals from bone tissue. A large number of them have been warned by their doctors that their bones will crumble if they don't take it. The latest results from an ongoing study of 670 women in Framingham, Massachusetts, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, October, 1993 shows, however, that HRT fails to protect women from osteoporosis—therefore eliminating one of the main reasons for its use. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 A moderate investment of time is all that's needed: fifteen to thirty minutes of weight training two to three times per week provides the bone density you need to prevent osteoporosis if you work all your different muscle groups and let your muscles rest for a day between workouts. Of course, it's great if you can start resistance training before you enter menopause, but even if you start later you will avoid the usual bone loss and even increase bone density slightly. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 It's necessary for bone health and to prevent osteoporosis (as important as calcium and less publicized).
If you want to have the most restful sleep you've ever had and you happen to have access to an M.D. who believes in nutrition and uses vitamin drips in his or her practice, get that doc to give you a magnesium infusion and you'll sleep like a baby. Atkins used to call magnesium "a natural calcium channel blocker." (Calcium channel blockers are a major class of drugs used to treat high blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythms. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 When women think about what they can do to prevent osteoporosis, most women think of calcium supplementation. Calcium improves bone health, increases bone mineral density, and improves the effectiveness of osteoporosis medications. Although most studies do not show a positive effect of calcium in reducing fracture risk, in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) trial, hip fractures were significantly reduced in older women on the calcium supplement program.65 Calcium supplementation has also been shown to decrease bone loss in postmenopausal women. |
| They reject the notion of taking a drug for the rest of their lives, especially if they have other options, especially if they can do other things to help prevent osteoporosis and heart disease, and especially if that drug increases their risk of a life-threatening disease.
Women are the biggest consumers of health care in America. A menopause supplement to OB-GYN, the journal of the American College of Ob-Gyn, states, "Focus groups, involving women age 40 to 60, reveal that women know more about herbal medicines than about estrogen. |
| Several approaches are available to prevent osteoporosis and to treat both those who are at high risk and those who have developed the condition. Natural medicines are especially key in prevention and in helping women with mild low bone density. Once osteoporosis has been diagnosed, many of the natural interventions such as diet, exercise, nutritional supplementation, and herbal medicines could be used aggressively in milder cases to slow bone loss and possibly improve bone density, bone strength, bone architecture, and bone health in general. |
| John Lee, that topically applied natural progesterone cream will not only prevent osteoporosis but will actually increase bone mineral density and prevent fractures. In his publications, Dr. Lee had become the strongest advocate of the role of progesterone in preventing and reversing osteoporosis. He asserts that almost all women can successfully prevent and reverse osteoporosis and improve their bone density by as much as 15 percent with this cream and that estrogen replacement therapy is very seldom a necessary component.
Although I respect much of the groundbreaking work done by Dr. |
| OVERVIEW OF HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), now often called HT as well, has been used since the 1950s to treat menopause symptoms and to prevent osteoporosis and heart disease. Several key studies, of the last nine years in particular, have challenged previously held beliefs about the safety and efficacy of long-term HRT use. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) was the most famous of these studies and was a large-scale, randomized, controlled clinical trial of 16,608 menopausal women aged 50 to 79.28 This study, of 0. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Any woman approaching or in menopause should use these supplements, plus a couple more to really get ahead of the curve and prevent osteoporosis; see below.
Discuss the extent of your bone loss with your doctor, and see whether you can try taking the following steps to promote better bone density, instead of taking a medication:
• Boron: 3 mg daily.
• Calcium: 1,000-1,200 mg daily.
• Magnesium: 400-600 mg daily.
• Strontium (shown to help calcium to build better bone): 340 mg twice a day between meals, taken separately from calcium.
• Vitamin D: at least 800 IU daily. |
John J. Ratey, MD
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 Lifting weights to prevent osteoporosis from devouring our bones releases growth factors that make dendrites bloom. Conversely, taking omega-3 fatty acids for mental acuity strengthens our bones.
The mental and physical diseases we face in old age are tied together through the cardiovascular system and metabolic system. A failure of these underlying connections explains why people who are obese are twice as likely to suffer from dementia, and why those with heart disease are at far greater risk of developing Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| Vitamin K2 helps to prevent osteoporosis, which it is estimated will affect more than 52 percent of women and men aged fifty and older by the year 2010. Nattokinase helps to make vitamin K2, which in turn helps to make a protein called osteocalcin; osteocalcin helps get calcium into the bones where you need it. Research has also shown that those who already have osteoporosis also have a lower level of vitamin K2.
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If you're already on blood-thinning medications, be sure to work with your health practitioner if you're eating natto or taking nattokinase. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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| CALCIUM AND VITAMIN D
Doctors routinely recommend supplementation with calcium and vitamin D to prevent osteoporosis and bone fractures in postmenopausal women. Taking calcium increases calcium in the blood, making more available for uptake into the bone. With normal aging, there is a decrease in calcium absorption by the stomach. Vitamin D (cholecalciferol) is known to increase calcium absorption in the gut as well as to act synergistically with calcium to promote bone density. |
Hyla Cass
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| Any woman approaching or in menopause should use these supplements, plus a couple more to really get ahead of the curve and prevent osteoporosis; see below.
Discuss the extent of your bone loss with your doctor, and see whether you can try taking the following steps to promote better bone density, instead of taking a medication:
?Boron: 3 mg daily.
?Calcium: 1,000-1,200 mg daily.
?Magnesium: 400-600 mg daily.
?Strontium (shown to help calcium to build better bone): 340 mg twice a day between meals, taken separately from calcium.
?Vitamin D: at least 800 IU daily.
? |
David Winston, RH(AHG), and Steven Maimes
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 In Pakistan, practitioners of Unani-Tibb use it for general debility, to prevent osteoporosis, to treat muscle wasting, and to improve weakness from heavy menstrual bleeding. Also, it is taken during convalescence from serious illness to enhance recuperation.
In Africa, the southern Sotho people use a decoction of the root for chills and colds. Other indigenous African people use it as a uterine tonic for women who habitually miscarry, to treat syphilis, typhoid fever, diarrhea, and lack of libido and for infections and eruptive diseases. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| Estrogen in combination with cyclic progestins will prevent osteoporosis, endometrial hyperplasia, or cancer. The hormone therapy medications and regimens are discussed earlier in this chapter and also in Chapter 12. Oral contraceptives may also be used and may even be an optimal choice because of the higher dose of estrogen for relieving symptoms, ease and cost, or coverage for contraception in case the amenorrhea is temporary and the women wants pregnancy protection.
2. Hyperprolactinemia. |
James Dowd and Diane Stafford
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 Conversely, if you maximize the factors that enhance bone formation in childhood, it's likely you can prevent osteoporosis in adulthood.
Your children will reach their potential peak bone mass if you do the following:
?Maintain normal vitamin D levels during pregnancy.
?Make sure your children get enough vitamin D from diet, sun, and/or supplements.
?Provide your children with an acid-base-balanced diet that has adequate protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
?Make sure your kids do weight-bearing exercise starting as soon as they can walk. |
Mark Sircus
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 It's still common to hear the assumption about calcium's ability to help prevent osteoporosis (weakening of the bones usually associated with aging). The fact is that it's the increasing of magnesium intake that improves bone density8 in the elderly and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. "Higher Magnesium intake through diet and supplements was positively associated with total-body bone mineral density (BMD) in older white men and women. For every 100 mg per day increase in magnesium, there was an approximate 2% increase in whole-body BMD,"9 said Dr. Kathryn Ryder. |
Dan Buettner
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 For example, if you're trying to prevent osteoporosis, swimming isn't the optimal activity, because it doesn't increase the strength of your bones.
Frank Shearer first put on water skis in 1939. At age 99, he still enjoys the activity. "I like the outdoors and the exercise, " he says.
There, working against gravity, walking, standing does more to increase bone metabolism than swimming does.
Then there are exercises designed to improve your balance. Tai Chi is one people talk about, or yoga. Those are exercises that have been associated with reducing the risk of falls. |
Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
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 This study suggests that supplementing with vitamin K2 may help prevent osteoporosis (page 333), which is a common complication of anorexia nervosa. The amount of vitamin K2 used in this study was much larger than the amount of vitamin K found in food and most supplements. Moreover, vitamin K2 is not yet generally available as a supplement, although it can be obtained through some nuttitionally oriented doctors. Individuals interested in using this treatment should be monitored by a doctor. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| Abramson also wonders "how many women taking these drugs are aware of the research showing the significant benefits of exercise in preventing fractures and, more important, improving overall health and longevity?"
When Less is Better
Is it "harder" to become a lifelong exerciser than it is to pop Fosamax? Sure it is. But unlike
Fosamax, which not only doesn't prevent fractures but also can cause nausea, abdominal cramping, gastrointestinal upset, and in some cases, osteonecrosis (bone loss) of the jaw, exercise pays off with incalculable dividends. |
Joe Graedon, M.S. and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.
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 In 2004, the FDA approved a low-dose estrogen patch to prevent osteoporosis. This transdermal patch, called Menostar, releases 14 micrograms of estrogen as (17-beta)-estradiol a day. This form of estrogen is different from the mixture found in Premarin or Prempro but the same as that found in some other estrogen pills for postmenopausal women. Estrogen is absorbed well through the skin, so the dosage delivered in a skin patch can be a lot lower than the dosage in a pill. This dose is quite a bit lower than those of other commonly prescribed estrogen patches used to treat menopausal symptoms. |
Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. and Alan R. Gaby, M.D.
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 However, there have been no studies on the long-term safety of triple-estrogen or on whether it can prevent osteoporosis. Triple-estrogen is available by prescription through compounding pharmacists.
Progesterone
Progestins (progesterone-like compounds, such as Provera) are frequently prescribed along with estrogen to prevent the uterine-cancer-promoting effect of estrogen. However, progestins are not the same as the natural progesterone manufactured by the ovary. Natural progesterone is not only much safer than progestins, but possibly more effective against osteoporosis. John Lee, M.D. |
| Preliminary studies in humans also suggest that ingesting soy products may help prevent osteoporosis.5
Nutritional Supplements
The importance of calcium for healthy bones is well known. Numerous double-blind studies have shown that supplementing with calcium slows the rate of bone loss in postmenopausal women. Most doctors recommend a total daily calcium intake (from diet and supplements) of 1,200 to 1,500 mg. Major dietary sources of calcium include dairy products, sardines and salmon (canned with bones), green leafy vegetables, beans and nuts. |
| Conventional therapy, which consists mainly of calcium supplements, estrogen, and exercise, does not reverse or even fully prevent osteoporosis; it merely slows down the rate at which bone loss occurs. In addition, estrogenic drugs such as Premarin are not without risk, as underscored by recent studies showing higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer in estrogen users. Newer treatments such as calcitonin and alendronate (Fosamax) have shown some benefit, but the long-term safety of these drugs has not been demonstrated.
DR. WRIGHT'S CASE STUDY
M ary Hallgren looked happy. |
| In addition, there is very little research on whether administet-ing triple-estrogen or estriol by itself will prevent osteoporosis, heart disease, or other problems.
Triple-estrogen is typically administered for 25 consecutive days each month, with natural progesterone (not Provera) added on days 14 to 25. Clinical observations suggest that 2.5 mg of triple-estrogen is similar in potency to 0.625 mg of Premarin. For additional information about estrogen therapy, please see Natural Hormone Replacement for Women Over 45, by Dr. Wright. |
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