Bone health knowmybones

One of the most widely accepted myths about bone is that it is dead, unchanging matter. However, your bone is constantly changing every second of the day as new bone cells replace old cells, just as your dead skin cells are brushed off but are continually replaced.

So many people think of BONES as the old, hard, dried-up skeleton they see in science labs. But, the BONES are not dead and they should not be dried-up with holes and low density. Your BONES should not be brittle where they break easily in a fall. Your BONES should be healthy, vibrant, fluid, and working efficiently for optimal health.

The human skeleton consists of 206 bones held together by flexible tissue consisting of cartilage and ligaments.

Bone resorption

Bone resorption is the process by which osteoclasts break down bone and release the minerals, resulting in a transfer of calcium from bone fluid to the blood.

The osteoclasts are multi-nucleated cells that contain numerous mitochondria and lysosomes. These are the cells responsible for the resorption of bone. Attachment of the osteoclast to the osteon begins the process. The osteoclast then induces an infolding of its cell membrane and secretes collagenase and other enzymes important in the resorption process. High levels of calcium, magnesium, phosphate and products of collagen will be into the extracellular fluid as the osteoclasts tunnel into the mineralized bone.

Bone resorption can also be the result of disuse and the lack of stimulus for bone maintenance. Astronauts, for instance will undergo a certain amount of bone resorption due to the lack of gravity, providing the proper stimulus for bone maintenance.

During childhood, bone formation exceeds resorption, but as the aging process occurs, resorption exceeds formation. Until now, with OsteoDenx, the formation balance can be restored.

Regulation

Bone resorption is stimulated or inhibited by signals from other parts of the body, depending on the demand for calcium.

Calcium-sensing membrane receptors in the parathyroid gland monitor calcium levels in the extracellular fluid. Low levels of calcium stimulates the release of parathyroid hormone (PTH) from chief cells of the parathyroid gland. In addition to its effects on kidney and intestine, PTH also increases the number and activity of Osteoclasts to release calcium from bone, and thus stimulates bone resorption.

High levels of calcium in the blood, on the other hand, leads to decreased PTH release from the parathyroid gland, decreasing the number and activity of osteoclasts, resulting in less bone resorption.

OsteoDenx provides a osteolactoferrin that is necessary for the formation of bone and the reabsorption of calcium and other minerals back into the bones as deposits into the bone bank.

Bone formation (osteogenesis) begins during prenatal development and persists throughout adulthood. The bones of infants and children are softer than in adults because it has not yet been ossified (the process of synthesizing cartilage into bone). There are two ways in which osteogenesis occurs: intramembranous ossification and endochondral ossification. Both types form by replacing existing cartilage however differ in the method they go about doing it. Two types of cells that are of great importance in the process are osteoblasts and osteoclasts. Osteoblasts, used mainly in intramembranous ossification, are the specialized cells in bone tissue that deposit calcium into the protein matrix of bone (collagen). Osteoclasts, used in endochondral ossification, dissolve calcium previously stored away in bone and carry it to tissues whenever needed. One third of all of the bone's components is collagen; a flexible, gelatin-like matrix.

"A healthy skeletal system with strong bones is essential to overall health and quality of life... With appropriate nutrition and physical activity throughout life, individuals can significantly reduce the risk of bone disease and fractures."
--US Surgeon General

If you've been diagnosed with osteoporosis, osteopenia, or receding gums, or if you simply want to prevent these bone issues, you have come to the right spot.

When we look at osteoporosis in relationship to the whole body, instead of viewing it as a disorder strictly limited to bone, we see that there are many natural ways to restore and maintain bone health. Preventing and treating osteoporosis involves more than increasing bone density or taking calcium and estrogen.

Osteoporosis definitions and diagnosis - then and now

The definitions of osteoporosis and osteopenia have changed over time and this has caused a great deal of confusion. Did you know that osteopenia wasn't even heard of 20 years ago?

In 1980, the World Health Organization defined osteoporosis as follows:
A chronic and progressive condition associated with micro-architectural deterioration of bone tissue that results in low bone mass. As the condition progresses there is an increase in bone fragility and consequently increases in susceptibility to fracture.

In 1993, osteopenia was characterized as a "systemic skeletal disease" by WHO. At that time, an osteoporosis diagnosis was only made if an individual fractured as an adult in a nontraumatic event.

Osteoporosis is not:
-- Just thin bones
-- Normal aging bone loss
-- Common all over the world
-- A female disorder
-- A disorder of just the elderly
-- Something that goes wrong with our bones
-- An isolated disorder

Osteoporosis is:
--Thin and substandard bone
-- A degenerative disease
-- Common only in westernized countries
-- A feminist issue in westernized countries
-- Becoming more common among the young
-- An intelligent bodily response to the stress of long-term imbalance
-- One manifestation of systemic breakdown

It was in 1994 that an expert panel of the World Health Organization recommended thresholds of bone mineral density to define osteoporosis, and came up with the diagnosis of osteopenia. This panel set "normal bone" as that within 1.0 standard deviation of the young adult reference mean for the population. This reference was based on a 25-year-old female. Bone mineral density (BMD) values that are well below this standard (specifically, 2.5 standard deviations below the average) receive an osteoporosis diagnosis. Those who have BMD below the standard, but not 2.5 standard deviations below, are diagnosed with osteopenia (in other words, BMD values between 1.0-2.5 standard deviations). And those who have fractured have what is known as "established osteoporosis."

For decades we have assumed that osteoporotic fractures happened because bones were brittle and thin. Doctors and scientists were confident that once bone reached a certain level of thinness (that is, 2.5 standard deviations below the BMD of the 25-year-old female average), it was subject to fracture more easily. But this is not the full story - let's evaluate some of the evidence.

Bone does not fracture due to thinness alone. I know this because more than half of the people with thin "osteoporotic" bone never fracture. Here in the United States, by the time women reach the age of 80 most have osteoporotic hip bone density, yet only a small percentage ever fracture any bones at all.

Any definition of osteoporosis, in my opinion, should contain these five criteria:
1. low bone mass
2. architectural deterioration with many holes in bone
3. bone fragility or brittleness
4. poor ability to rebuild and repair
5. higher susceptibility to fracture

We're talking about more than thin bone

The problem with leaning on bone mineral density results for an osteoporosis or osteopenia diagnosis is that some bone may "look" dense but still be susceptible to fracture. For example, in a person who has been treated with fluoride, the bone matrix may appear dense with fluoride deposits, but fluoride in the matrix just isn't as strong as a calcium matrix, so this person may be just as likely to fracture as a woman with a low bone density - or even more likely to fracture than a person with low bone density who has great ability to rebuild and repair bone.

Regeneration is an important piece of the osteoporosis equation, and one that has been greatly overlooked. In fact, it is the key to good bone health, and the ability to rebuild and repair bone. Healthy bone is constantly breaking down and rebuilding areas that are worn out and damaged. When bone isn't healthy, often these self-repair and rebuilding mechanisms become uncoupled, which leads to weakness in the bone structure.

Bone is unhealthy and more susceptible to fracture because of a depletion of osteo-lactoferrin, which means there is no mechanism to rebuild or repair the bone. Osteo-lactoferrin must be replenished. Up until a few years ago, there was no mechanism to replenish osteo-lactoferrin. Now, thanks to over 20 years of dedicated research and development by a world-renowned leading scientist, Dr. Naidu, there is a proven bio-replenishment available to synoportin technology that will actually rebuild and repair bone.

We all understand that roads and bridges remain stronger and intact for longer periods with routine maintenance. Likewise, our bones are living mechanisms and those who have the ability to rebuild and repair bone will most likely not fracture because they are consistently replacing old bone with newer, stronger bone. This is the case with Chinese and Japanese women, who have thinner bone mass than those of us in the United States but suffer fewer fractures than we do - even into old age.

As long as your body maintains the ability to rebuild and repair bone, it will remain healthy and vibrant and you will not suffer debilitating and often deadly fractures.
So what about calcium and estrogen?

Our bones are largely made of calcium. One of estrogen's many responsibilities in the body is to conserve calcium. It does this by increasing calcium absorption and inhibiting the loss of calcium from your bones. Estrogen can also inhibit a bone breakdown hormone called parathyroid hormone. These bare facts make it seem logical that a lack of calcium and estrogen lead to osteoporosis and osteopenia. This is exactly what conventional medicine thought for years, and menopausal women were put on estrogen and supplemental calcium - often without much further thought. Many women remain on this automatic-pilot program today.

However, we must consistently look at the medical results and scientific evidence. There are plenty of other cultures who don't consume as much calcium as we do or take supplemental estrogen, yet maintain healthy bones throughout life. Research and clinical practice show that calcium is indeed needed for healthy bones, but the amount of calcium you need depends on many other factors. Such factors include intake of other bone-building nutrients, level of sunlight exposure, exercise, and genetics, as well as bone-depleting behaviors like high protein, sugar, fat and salt intake; and tobacco, alcohol or prescription drug use and abuse. and uterus removal and endocrine system function also play into the amount of calcium an individual needs. So there is much more to preventing osteoporosis and osteopenia than simply adding calcium. Indeed, simply adding calcium without an effective mechanism like osteo-lactoferrin to actually deliver the calcium into the bone matrix and to remove the weak, thinning, or bad bone can lead to more serious problems and complications. Not to mention that pumping calcium pills into the body without any means to assimilate the calcium is a big waste of money.

So why have we spent so much time and money looking at the density of bone, and even setting up diagnostic criteria around it, when it is just one aspect of bone health? Big Pharma is Big Money and it drives most of the latest trends in testing with the intent to drive more business to pharmaceutical companies. Big Pharma has even taken over the airways and it is almost impossible to watch television or open a magazine without seeing a drug ad. Americans have been sold a bill of goods that there will be a magic pill to fix anything and everything. The truth is that very few drugs actual perform as intended and they cause many untoward or unintended side-effects. It is estimated that over a million Americans die each year from unintended consequences of a drug or interaction of medications taken exactly as prescribed by a doctor. In fact, more people die each year from taking prescribed medications as instructed by their physician than die of illegal street drugs.

It has been over 3 decades since we started doing all this bone density measuring, and it is simply not predicting who will suffer a fracture and Big Pharma is not alleviating the problem as advertised. Almost three decades later, and we simply cannot predict fracture based on measurements of bone density alone because it is about the mechanism through which the bone rebuilds and repairs that is the real key!

People lose bone mass as they age because they lose osteo-lactoferrin and it cannot keep up with the extensive bone damage due to the American diet, stress, soda, pharmaceutical drugs, steroid medications, and other toxins in our modern environment. Bones should be healthy and capable of constant self-repair and rebuilding. Bone mineral density tests cannot measure how well your bone repairs itself, only the density - or, technically, the surface area of the bone matrix because BMD test are only measuring density and not content or the osteo-lactoferrin levels. Also, BMD is much less accurate than originally thought. In fact, a study done in 2005 followed more than 8000 women aged 65 and older to assess hip fractures over five years. Out of those women who fractured (243), 54% did not have osteoporotic bone density.

The World Health Organization just recently developed a new fracture risk assessment tool, known as FRAX. This web-based tool should be helpful in predicting the ten-year risk of osteoporosis fracture in women (and men) by taking into account certain risk factors, such as age, weight, height, femoral neck BMD, family history, smoking history, and long-term use of steroid medication, among others.

Assessing osteoporosis fracture risk - a holistic perspective

We are entering a new and exciting time in bone health. Paradigms are shifting and conventional medicine is starting to realize that osteoporosis is not just about bone density or about calcium or estrogen. In fact, the US Surgeon General wrote in his report on bone health and osteoporosis:

A healthy skeletal system with strong bones is essential to overall health and quality of life... With appropriate nutrition and physical activity throughout life, individuals can significantly reduce the risk of bone disease and fractures.

We've started to look at other factors affecting bone health, including inflammation, as part of the overall picture. Our bones work with the entire body, especially by balancing and maintaining the pH of our blood. The American diet is very acidic and our bodies must maintain our pH in a very narrow area or we will develop metabolic acidosis and die. Calcium is the most readily available way to add alkalinity and restore a healthy pH balance. We pour acid into our bodies and then deplete our calcium stores to save our lives. Just establish an alkaline pH level to reduce the burden on your bones. An alkaline pH level allows your bones to use their minerals for building density and strength, rather than fighting systemic acidosis.

There are many other factors to consider other than bone density in assessing the patient's susceptibility to fracture. Several studies have been done to determine the most helpful risk factors. Here are 11 key factors that the Women's Health Initiative found helpful in determining fracture risk. These, if possible, can be assessed along with bone mineral density:
-- age
-- self-reported health
-- weight
-- height
-- race/ethnicity
-- self-reported physical activity
-- history of fracture after age 54
-- parental hip fracture
-- current smoking
-- current corticosteroid use
-- treated diabetes

The new FRAX tool adds rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and consumption of alcohol to the list of variables.

Science must still consider lifestyle risk factors such as diet and soda consumption, which causes high bone resorption (breakdown) rates, along with low serum levels of vitamin D, low serum levels of vitamin K, and the use of various additional prescription medications. The more drugs you take, the heavier the load on your bones.

The scare started around sun exposure and cancer risks, drove people inside and now Americans are Vitamin D deficient in record numbers. Vitamin D3 is what the bones need, but most Vitamin D supplementation is D1 or D2 because it is cheaper. No one consider that maybe the suntan lotions people were lathering on their largest organ (the skin) might be loaded with chemicals and toxins, rather than the sun being the culprit. Always try to get 20-30 minutes of sunshine each morning for your health and your bones.

Osteoporosis is not a natural result of getting older! Big Pharma needs to get over it. Most of the cases of osteoporosis and osteopenia are caused by a combination of poor nutrition, lack of exercise, and other modern lifestyle factors-including increased stress, steroids, medication, soda, sugar, alcohol, smoking, and other exposure to toxins, chemicals, and pollutants.

Rethink your bone health

Contrary to what the media or even your doctor might be telling you, the high rates of osteoporosis and osteopenia in America are not a result of our population living longer! When we take a closer look at osteoporosis and osteopenia, it's clear that thin, substandard bone and higher fracture risks are the result of the depletion of osteo-lactoferrin and its inability to keep up with the demands on calcium caused by our modern lifestyle and diet.

In their natural state, your bones are fully capable of supporting you throughout your life. But factors like hormonal imbalance, insufficient nutrition, certain medications, and an acid-forming diet place an overwhelming burden on your bones. Without enough support to compensate, the result is thin bone, weak bone, or both.

Fortunately you can reduce the demands on your bones. When you combine this approach with support for bone-building cells, you can balance your bone metabolism and strengthen your bones.

Preventing and treating osteoporosis involves a new way of thinking about your body. It involves looking at your bones as one part of the whole system-as a living replenishing skeletal system. Working with that system means working with nature to build and maintain healthy bones and healthy bodies by taking bio-replenishments. It's never too late or too early to lessen your bone burden with a lifestyle change.

It is best to take a natural approach to support bone metabolism. The advantage of a natural approach to bone health is that it helps restore balance to your bone metabolism, rather than halting the bone breakdown that's necessary for repair. Healthy bone continually dissolves old, weak bone and replaces it with new, stronger bone. This self-repair process helps maintain bone strength and resilience, which is ultimately more important than bone density. Even dense bones can be brittle if the quality of the bone is not maintained. A natural approach gives your bones the support they need to do what they do best: build strong bone, one cell at a time.

Taking a bio-replenishment to restore a healthy osteo-lactoferrin level is better so that your bone rebuilding and repair can keep up with the demands and depletion of calcium. A bio-replenishment will actually help rebuild new bone and promotes natural bone strength and regeneration. Bio-replenishments are the result of over 20 years of research and development. Discover the natural way to reclaim bone health.

About the author Carolyn Barnes, J.D., CIWC, CPN, from ABEL Wellness and her work

Carolyn Barnes is an internationally certified wellness coach and consumer health advocate with over 25 years in the medical-legal field with a mission to inspire people on a global scale to embrace a better life by arming themselves with the Truth and developing the courage to take action. When one improves their own environment, one improves their community and elevates society to the benefit of people everywhere. She has authored and published articles, guides, and books on topics like wellness, health, medical-legal issues, and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is impacting lives and improving personal wellbeing around the world. She is an honest, independent researcher and reporter who accepts no money or commissions from large corporations or pharmaceutical corporations and does not condition publications or suppress information based on advertising dollars or revenue from any advertisers. Carolyn Barnes does use, recommend, and endorse Nikken products and technologies, including her life in a certified wellness home for over 5 years. Barnes will not endorse, recommend, or promote any product or technology that she does not personally use.

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