Natural Supplements for Bone Health

Would you use a drug that gives you the problem it’s supposed to prevent?

Well, that’s exactly what’s going on with the new osteoporosis drugs.

Fosomax, Boniva, Reclast, Actonel… these medications are supposed to help stop you from getting bone fractures as you get older. But we now have evidence that they cause bone breaks.

Researchers studied women taking these medications – called bisphosphonates – who experienced some sort of fracture. Over 65 percent had the same rare fracture in the same area of their thigh bones. And these were the women who had been on the drugs for the longest periods.

Plus they’ve also found that if you’re on the drugs for a long time and you do get a bone break, you’ll heal very slowly. Sometimes it can take two years!

It’s another example of how modern medicine doesn’t learn from its mistakes. They refuse to take a whole-body approach to healing. Instead they opt to treat individual symptoms with drugs designed only for those symptoms.

Your bones have cells called osteoclasts. Their job is to remove old bone tissue. This allows the bone to grow strong because other cells called osteoblasts then rebuild the bone. With osteoporosis and other bone diseases, there is an imbalance … either your osteoblasts aren’t making new cells fast enough, or osteoclasts are removing too much tissue. So drug companies came up with a way to stop osteoclasts from removing the old tissue, which also artificially increases your bone density: bisphosphonate drugs.

There are two problems with this.

1. By keeping your old bone tissue, you increase bone mass but make bones act older.

2. The drugs do the job by poisoning your osteoclast cells.

What happens is that you take the medicine, the osteoclasts absorb it, and it poisons the osteoclast cells by cutting off their blood supply. The cells then either work very slowly or die. Because they don’t take away the old tissue, your bones become denser. But they’re dense with old tissue and the osteoblasts can’t make new tissue if the old tissue is still there.

After a while, the old-bone tissue becomes brittle and fragile, like glass, because it’s not as strong as the newer bone that would have formed without the drugs. So you end up with technically “dense” but weak bones that can fracture.

The other thing that can happen that most people don’t know about is osteonecrosis. This is what happens when your bones are too dense with old tissue. There’s not enough space in the inner bone for your bone marrow, which keeps your bones alive. Your bones then start to die. This often happens in the jaw.

There are natural ways to increase your bone mineral density without any harmful side effects.

1. Vitamin D3 (calcifediol) is your number-one bone nutrient. Your body uses it in the process of making osteoclast and osteoblast cells. Sunshine as the best source of vitamin D. During the winter when you might not be able to get that much sun on your skin, you can:

• Eat some mushrooms: They’re the only vegetable that has vitamin D.
• Eat seafood: Everyone knows by now that cold-water fish have lots of vitamin D. But did you know that oysters have as much vitamin D as salmon? You get about 350 IU for every 3.5 ounces.
• Eat liver: Pork and beef liver are good sources. Braunschweiger pork sausage has 27 IU for every 2 slices, and beef liver has 42 IU for every 3 oz.
• Supplement: 3,000-5,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day.

2. Vitamin K is also important when it comes to maintaining strong bones. Vitamin K comes in two forms: K1 is found in leafy green vegetables and helps with blood clotting. K2 on the other hand aids with your bones’ absorption of calcium to help make them stronger. You can find K2 in a variety of different foods including egg yolks, organ meat, and organic milk. The recommended dosage for vitamin k is 90 – 100 mcg a day.

3. Hormones are building blocks for strong bones.

• Estrogen and testosterone control the amount of calcium absorbed into your bones. And by maintaining proper levels in your body, the less likely your bones are to weaken and fracture.
• Progesterone also plays a role. Studies show that the cycle of ovulation is also a cycle of bone formation. Progesterone levels drop after giving birth, and after menopause, so returning your levels to normal can be, according to one study, “extraordinarily effective in reversing osteoporosis.”

4. The more protein you eat, the easier it is for your bones to absorb calcium and the stronger your bones will become. You want to eat as many different kinds of protein as you can. When choosing animal protein, be sure to opt for natural, hormone-free meat and eggs. Grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, and cage-free eggs are good choices.

5. Weight-bearing exercise is one of the most effective ways to increase your bone strength and help prevent fractures. These include walking, bicycling, sprints, swimming or weight training. Focus on increasing intensity in all of these exercises.

Another benefit for your bones is that if you focus on increasing intensity, instead of increasing duration, you’ll lose weight and shed fat faster. This will reduce the amount of stress on your bones and joints, helping you prevent future injuries down the road.

– Syndicated from Al Sears MD

Winter is Coming… Give Your Immune System a Boost!

Flavonoids are potent antioxidants that protect the body and fight silent inflammation – the leading cause of many chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, dementia and others. Flavonoid-rich foods include vegetables, tea, red wine and dark chocolate.

There are more than 5,000 flavonoids, but one of the most powerful is Quercetin. It’s one of nature’s best immune boosters and antihistamines – and among the most abundant flavonoids found in food.

Quercetin fights free radicals that can damage cells. But what really makes quercetin unique is that it protects you in three ways. It’s contains antioxidant, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory power. It stops your body from boosting histamine levels when you get sick, which can reduce symptoms like a stuffy nose, congestion and more.

One recent study by The American Journal of Physiology found that quercetin can protect against the flu for immune systems under stress. Another study put Quercetin’s healing powers to the test against the common cold, when University of Michigan researchers tested Quercetin on cells infected with the rhinovirus. Quercetin stopped the virus from replicating and prevented excess inflammation.

In a study to test the strength of Quercetin and vitamin C for fighting free radicals, Quercetin was a more effective antioxidant than vitamin C. So the next time you come down with a bug, treat it with 10 mg of quercetin daily.

The easiest way to get enough Quercetin is to eat dark, leafy, greens, or other dark-colored vegetables like red onions, scallions and kale. Even capers have Quercetin. But, what you may not know is that if you cook those veggies, they lose Quercetin. So it’s best to eat them washed and raw. A good way to remember which fruits have the most Quercetin is that they have it in the skin. That means blueberries, blackberries, cherries, grapes, and, of course, apples.

You can also try supplementing. American Nutrition carries a variety of dosages of Quercetin – along with several other rare and naturalimmune-boosting herbs and nutrients.

Joint Health Supplements to Increase Mobility & Flexibility

We need our joints to run, walk, type, write, and eat, and without them no task of importance can be done. As we age, our joints take a beating; they become stiffer, and begin to hurt as we bend them back and forth. Working out often and living an active lifestyle can only make the problems worse. That’s why many people take proven supplements to increase their joint flexibility and health, as well as decrease pain.

American Nutrition offers an extensive line of bone and joint supplements to help you continue an active lifestyle. We carry the best joint health supplements, including Glucosamine, Chondroitin, and MSM.

Both Glucosamine and Chondroitin occur naturally in the body and act as building blocks for the functioning of healthy cartilage. Glucosamine and Chondroitin have been studied and have been found to be critical nutrients that assist in supporting flexibility, comfort and range of motion.

Glucosamine: Glucosamine is one of the major components involved with the formation of cartilage (critical lubricants and shock absorbers necessary to maintain and restore healthy joint performance). Glucosamine facilitates the renewal of cartilage and helps keep cartilage lubricated to maintain its naturally slippery texture. These mechanisms of action improve the structure of joints.

Chondroitin: Chondroitin supports existing cartilage by promoting the quality of the synovial fluid — it attracts fluid to act as a spongy shock absorber for the joints. It works together with Glucosamine to promote the healthy flow of water and nutrients into cartilage producing cells.

When taken together, Glucosamine and Chondroitin work naturally with your body to promote healthy, flexible joints. This process of revitalizing healthy joints takes time and depends on your specific individual nutritional requirements. With daily continued use, you should look forward to experiencing the benefits of taking Glucosamine and Chondroitin.

MSM: MSM keeps cells from becoming rigid. MSM softens tissue (“the beauty mineral”), and is believed to relieve stress, asthma, arthritis, inflammation, constipation, candida, detoxify the body and increase blood circulation, reduce muscle cramps, and back pain, help muscles to heal, increases energy, alertness, mental calmness, and the ability to concentrate. MSM scavenges free radicals, relieves allergies to food and pollens, helps the liver produce choline, controls acidity in stomach and ulcers, coats intestinal tract so parasites lose ability to hang on, helps with hypersensitivity to drugs, increases body’s ability to produce insulin, is important for carbohydrate metabolism, and speeds wound healing.

Click Here for More Information on Proven Joint Health Supplements.