Osteoporosis

It is well known that the bones in the elderly are fragile. But osteoporosis as a dangerous disease became widely known only recently - somewhere in the 60-ies of XX century. Intrigue of the disease lies in the fact that it can pass unnoticed and manifest itself only at fractures.

This disease is called formidable because it is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality in modern society. Cardiovascular disease is the lead; second place goes to cancer; the third - diabetes mellitus, the fourth - osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is diagnosed worldwide every third woman after 45 years and almost half of all women and men over 65. Experts predict a rise in this number several times in the coming years. This is, of course, relative evaluation, but it is based on the conception of lifestyle that is inherent in the modern person.

Archaeologists who have studied the skeletons of Cro-Magnon did not find in the remains of our ancestors nor spongy bones (a sign of osteoporosis) or any salt deposits (evidence of calcium deficiency). But the thing is that they ate raw food that is, not boiled. Of course, they have already used the fire, and they are baked meat (but not fried!), but they still not smart enough to boil vegetables. Namely boiling process converts calcium and other minerals into insoluble compounds that our body can not use.

Osteoporosis is characterized by a decrease in bone mass that popularly called "thinning" of bones. This is a dangerous disease that can lead to disability, as the risk of bone fractures increases; in addition the bone heals poorly. This is mainly due to the withdrawal of calcium from bones.

The most susceptible to the disease are women after 45-50 years when hormonal activity decreases. But you should not think that before this age you are not under threat. The process of thinning bones can be slowed. But reverse it and "to repair" porous bones is very, very difficult.

Here is an example of how important is "a danger foreseen". This incident happened with one woman, 54 years old, who worked with me in the company of dietary supplements. Becoming a member of the fitness movement in 1997, she began to take the supplements regularly, including complete mineral preparations.

In 2003, she received a shoulder injury and in this regard, she did an x-ray examination. Here it found that her brachial bone has signs of thinning. Fortunately, she did not receive the fracture, but a person has received a visual confirmation that the talk about calcium deficiency and the benefits of taking dietary supplements is not an empty phrase.

Where calcium is hiding?

When the body needs the most calcium? Clearly, during skeletal growth. But if it is not enough? The bones become thinner and more fragile, the growth will be less, and teeth will deteriorate increasingly. But calcium is essential not only during growth, and not only to the bones.

Calcium is needed by everybody and always. Everybody has heard stories about centenarians. Longevity is common in the mountain peoples: Tibetans, Indians living by the Lake Titicaca - those who drink the water from the glaciers.

Doctor Wallack writes that glacial water in appearance similar to milk, because of the large amounts of dissolved salts. I do not know, maybe someone told him about it, but in my stay experience on glaciers, want to say: glacial water in appearance is not similar any milk.

But the fact that it contains a lot of dissolved salts - it's true.

Filtering through the rubble moraine, mountain water is enriched with all the periodic table, so she is a real elixir of life!

Most calcium-rich water, believed to be located on the island of Okinawa in Japan. Residents of the island also are long-lived (after Hiroshima!). Natural water on the island is filtered through its coral base, so saturated with calcium from coral. Everywhere in these waters calcium is ionized - with a charge of +2; only such calcium can enter the cell.

In nature, calcium is very common, but is found only in a bound form, mainly in the form of carbonate, CaCO₃: chalk, limestone, marble, stalactites, silicates. In water sources - mainly in the form of bicarbonate. In the bones - as a complex structure consisting of fluorides, phosphates, hydrates.

Boiling water, cooking food convert calcium into insoluble salts which are hardly absorbed. Pasteurization of milk leads to the same result; so if you think that dairy foods protect you from osteoporosis, you are right only if use fresh, not pasteurized milk.

By the way, about some of the "natural" sources of calcium. Clams and crabs, building their shells and shells, turn soluble calcium into insoluble - bicarbonate into carbonate. Eggshell 90% is composed of the same material. To turn back calcium into a soluble form, the ion exchange process is required (as in the island of Okinawa).

That is, if you just crush up the shell and stir it into a glass of boiled water, to sense will be zero. For ion exchange, it is necessary that water contained other minerals ions that calcium as more active element may replace. Plus some catalysts, otherwise the process will last for centuries.

Health formula

How does calcium metabolism in our body? Health formula is as follows: 99% of the calcium contained in bones, 1 percent - in the blood, in the form of an acidic phosphate salt. This buffer calcium is essential for the normalization of blood pH - indicator of acid-base balance.

Blood pH refers to a hard biological constants - this is one of the most permanent exchange indicators. In a healthy person, blood pH is 7,85-7,45, that is, blood is slightly alkaline reaction. Shift of pH values for 0.4-0.5, especially in the acid side, leads to severe disorders of equilibrium of the organism until death.

But the blood constantly receives as acidic or alkaline substances: from the digestive tract, from the respiratory system, from liver and endocrine glands - so there are a number of buffer mechanisms for aligning the equilibrium, in which calcium is actively involved.

Our daily diet is overloaded with products that acidify the blood, including meat. In the diet of our ancestors - hunters and gatherers - the meat was only 20%, and the rest - different roots, but today many eat meat three times a day. Naturally, calcium is consumed to compensate for the extra acids and comes from blood. If the food does not contain enough calcium, the body will take it from its depot - bone tissue. Just because anywhere else it can not be taken.

Thus, the products of calcium interaction with strong acids - insoluble salts - are currently deposited where you need it least of all, for example, in the kidneys. Or in the joints.

But some experts can tell you: - You have calcium stones, you can not take calcium.
   Or: - You have increased calcium in the blood, you can not take calcium.

All is just the opposite. Calcium in the blood is increased because you miss it.

And kidney stones - not from dietary calcium. The process of excretion of calcium from the bones is not as easy to adjust as its delivery of food, so there are fluctuations in both directions. It is just as hypoglycemia occurs in fact not for low blood sugar, and conversely, because of its abundance.

"One man, no man"

How to provide your body with calcium and prevent osteoporosis? Well, let's start with the babies. In infants, calcium is not absorbed in the stomach, so the addition of calcium in the milk mixture is useless. All that a child needs - is a mother's milk. Before one year, it does not make sense to give minerals, since the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach is not yet established.

Multivitamin Infant Formula, designed specifically for babies, do not contain minerals: why to give minerals, if they do not absorbed, but only clog up the body.

How does the absorption of calcium from food in adults? Dietary calcium is absorbed in the best case up to 50%; the remaining 50% are converted into an insoluble phosphate, and output. The bone structure should receive daily 500 mg - hence it must be taken with food not less than 1000 mg. In special periods - growing children, women in menopause, as well as the athletes - the dose should be doubled.

Another factor to poor absorption of calcium from food - is excess fat. It leads to calcium saponification, translating it into sparingly soluble salts of fatty acids.

But calcium in the body is not one soldier in the field. It works in balance with magnesium, strontium, phosphorus and iodine. And this balance is most often terribly broken. This is especially true for phosphorus. Sometimes you can find multivitamins, which, ostensibly for better absorption, contain calcium along with phosphorus.

My dear! Practically, our food contains phosphorous in 7-10 times more than we need! That is wheat, beef, cheese, cottage cheese, alcoholic beverages, Fanta, Pepsi and others like them. Excess phosphorus wants calcium, but it is not. Where to get? Well, of course - from the bone!

Of the rest of the minerals, the most important factor for the absorption of calcium is its correlation with magnesium. A famous American physician Dr. Atkins believed that it is generally the main factor of building bone.

This ratio - calcium : magnesium equals 2 : 1 - there is in the formula Strong Bones, which contains calcium in a form of citrate (the best source of calcium for today), lactate and alpha- ketoglutorate plus traditional carbonate. With this composition, all of the known mechanisms of calcium absorption are involving.

Another drug - Power Mins - contains 11 minerals, including calcium, of course. Its composition is balanced in terms of maximum mutual assimilation of minerals, and minerals are included in ionic form, enclosed in amino acids shell.

Two faces of "solar" vitamin

Well, and what about vitamin D? We know from childhood that without it, rickets develops. No questions - vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption. But only many drugs contain synthetic vitamin D2, which is also used for food fortification. It is good for health, or not?

Natural vitamin D3 we get from dietary fats; it is called cholecalciferol. Another form of vitamin D - vitamin D2 - is formed in our skin by the action of sunlight and is known as ergocalciferol. So, synthetic vitamin D2 is the same ergocalciferol, but only obtained by the action of ultraviolet light on specific yeasts. What is the difference?

Cholecalciferol and ergocalciferol both are provitamins from which our liver produces active forms of vitamin D, which transport calcium into cells. Just these final substances are slightly different in structure.

Scientists believe that the 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol (the final product of provitamin D3 processing) is more active than the 25-hydroxy-ergocalciferol (a derivative of provitamin D2). But it is also a natural substance that is produced by the body. So the source of replenishment of vitamin D deficiency is not as important as the fact of existence of this deficiency.

According to recent data, vitamin D deficiency affects up to one billion people on Earth. And even in such "solar" countries like India, Pakistan, Iran and China, according to some estimates, 60-80% of the population have symptoms of D-deficiency. In temperate countries, such as Russia and Ukraine, practically the entire population is at the risk group.

Therefore, the most modern drugs contain in their composition. Along with calcium and magnesium, also vitamin D3 (Strong Bones Plus); the latest modification of Strong Bones Plus also includes vitamin K2, which is involved in the construction of the bone matrix.

Into the catalog >>
    To the topic directory >>