Health Care

By Robert Rister

Osteoporosis is a loss of bone due to a failure to make bone or excessive destruction of bone through natural processes. Bone is constantly remodeled through life to compensate for microscopic trauma. The bones repair themselves after microscopic or visible trauma by a process of bone destruction known as resorption. The process of resorption is always followed by new bone formation. When resorption and formation get out of balance, osteoporosis, or weak bone results.

The bones are not only the body's largest depot of calcium, they are also the body's largest depot of sodium. Every cell in the body maintains a negative electrical charge, but the electrical charge across the membrane of a bone is cell is very low, only -2 to -4 mV, compared to -90 mV in a cell in the heart. This very small negative charge keeps it from being overwhelmed with toxic levels of sodium. That is, a bone cell is not overwhelmed with sodium until it is injured or becomes "tired."

Cells of bone are programmed to destroy themselves with they are injured. A fracture quickly causes affected bone cells to absorb sodium and acquire a positive charge of +20 to +40 mV. The positive charge on an injured bone cell is ten to twenty times the magnitude of the negative charge on a healthy bone cell. The positive charge fractured bone alters electrical balance throughout the body. In fact, broken bones can be detected not just on X-ray but also by EKG. Abnormalities in sodium metabolism in bone ripple through the entire body.

If sodium levels in the bloodstream are high, the rest of the body cannot absorb small amounts of sodium to offset the huge amounts of sodium going to injured bone. Bone cells are stuck with a positive charge. The injured, positively charge bone cell cannot attract amino acids or respond to hormones. It has to rely on inefficient anaerobic (oxygen-free) respiration to make energy. Anaerobic respiration fills the cell with lactic acid. The only way it can lower its charge is by releasing calcium.

Calcium, of course, is key to the strength of bone. As injured cells attempt to heal themselves by lowering their electrical charge, the bone becomes weaker. If the cells are completely unsuccessful at repairing their metabolic machinery by release of calcium, they die. The "hole" in the bone must be cleaned up by specialized cells called osteoclasts. These are giant cells with multiple nuclei and redundant mitochondrial "energy factories" that make them resistant to metabolic stress. The "hole" is filled by restoration cells called osteoblasts. These are smaller cells with a single nucleus and a single set of mitochondria that are very sensitive to metabolic stress.

The cells that destroy bone are much more efficient and resilient than the cells that make new bone. Under conditions of metabolic stress, such as high sodium and low potassium, bone-destroying osteoclasts predominate over bone-making osteoblasts. But if the bone is partially successful at restoring their metabolic machinery by release of calcium, it remains alive, partially decalcified and vulnerable to fracture, not to be replaced for months or years as it progressively weakens.

Critics of this observation note that the kidneys conserve calcium even if it is released by bone. Over 95 percent of calcium released by bone is recycled back into the bloodstream by the kidneys. Over 99 percent of sodium, however, is also recycled back into the bloodstream by the kidneys, so bone cell disorganization progresses unless dietary intake of sodium is restricted. Most of the research regarding the relationship between sodium and osteoporosis has focused on prevention.

At least one study suggests that an average intake of 16,000 mg or sodium per day increases the risk of osteoporosis by 300 to 400 percent. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition of the UK estimates that preventing osteoporosis requires restricting sodium to 6,000 mg per day. Exact recommendations of sodium intake for preventing osteoporosis are not possible because salt sensitivity varies from person to person and from day to day in individuals. Correcting osteoporosis, however, requires much lower consumption of sodium, certainly less than 1,500 mg per day and optimally about 360 mg per day.

When researchers put volunteers on a "low" salt diet containing 2000 mg of sodium a day, calcium excretion (measured by the concentration of calcium in 24-hour samples of their urine) was essentially the same as when they consumed a "normal" diet containing 3300 mg of sodium a day. Giving supplemental potassium, however, significantly increased retention of calcium. I believe this is because potassium allows bone cells to "recharge" so that they do not need to expel calcium to reduce their concentrations of sodium.

Opponents of sodium restriction point out that the effects of salt consumption on calcium retention are short term, lasting only about 12 hours. They are right. However, if you consume salty foods every 12 hours, you constantly tire the cells of your bones.

What you can do about osteoporosis? If you consume at least 6,000 mg of potassium per day from food, you will observe improvement in osteoporosis if you restrict consumption of sodium to about 600 mg per day, regardless of your calcium or magnesium consumption. Even less sodium, however, is more effective.

Read about Diet & Healthy Bones and the Norwegian Arthritis Diet. Robert Rister is the author or co-author of nine books on natural health. Robert Rister is the author or co-author of nine books on natural health including.

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Sharon Bell is an avid health and fitness enthusiast and published author. Many of her insightful articles can be found at the premiere online news magazine http://www.healthnfitnesszone.com.

If you want the results of being healthy to live Cancer Free For Life, you need to find the causes of health and follow them. You need to understand the reasons why you get sick and avoid those. Of course, this approach is in direct conflict with the more conventional philosophy of medicine that believes disease is a matter of bad luck, where people have "risks" of disease that only occur by chance.

Conventional medicine wants you to think that disease happens to you purely by chance and that you have no control over it. “It’s just bad luck. There’s a flu epidemic.” But the reality is that disease (or a lack thereof) is entirely under your control. If you wish to be healthy and to remain Cancer Free For Life, there are certain things you can do that reliably and consistently produce a healthy outcome. And if you wish to be diseased, there are other things you can do to reliably and consistently produce disease. Researchers have found that there is a cancer personality and that there are personality traits of people who have cancer, and that there are traits unique to people who are super healthy, and have remained Cancer Free For Life. These are described in great detail in the second chapter of the book Cancer Free For Life, and there are clear steps and explanations for you to determine what personality you have, and how to change it. This book is available on http://cancer-free-for-life.com. Visit us there.

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Some people drink grape juice or swallow massive doses of vitamin C; others pray, take herbal remedies, or simply cheer themselves on. These very diverse patients all have one thing in common, though. At a certain point in their disease, they suddenly knew, with complete certainty, that they were going to get better, as if the disease were simply a mirage, and they suddenly passed beyond it into a space where fear and despair and all sickness were nonexistent.

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I have spent these past years looking for what causes disease, and to find the healing mechanisms in the body. I have found that it is the same way that thousands of documented cases of people who recover from cancer, leukemia, arthritis and many other diseases use to put their disease ‘in remission’ and beat all the doctors’ prognostis. I become fascinated with the healing system that doesn’t appear in any medical books. I discovered there is a way to remain Cancer Free For Life.

Less than a third of old people show no sign of cancer, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, osteoporosis, and other generative disorders endemic to old age. Who heals the sick person anyway? And why are we not allowed to use the word “Cure”? Are people with extraordinary health super-humans, or do they have abilities we can all share and learn from? Imagine if we were taught simple disease prevention habits and strategies that cost absolutely nothing, are easy to obtain, and work to improve the health of everyone, regardless of genetic makeup or background.

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Osteoporosis Can Strike at Thirty

Although osteoporosis is known to appear especially on older people, the truth is that the disease can strike at any age.

Therefore, millions and millions of people are at risk. And not only women even though osteoporosis is associated in most of the cases with them, but also men can suffer from this debilitating condition.

Women are four times more likely to develop the disease than men

Osteoporosis is a disease that makes the bones so fragile and they are more likely to break.

There are no kinds of symptoms, no pain, no warning signs that could alert people about the onset of the disease.

The first indication can be something minor like a fall, a bump or a strain causing easily a break or fracture.

Any bone can be affected, but in many cases fractures occur in the hip, spine or wrist.

Spinal fractures are serious, severe back pain, permanent loss of height and deformity are often the outcome.

Hip fractures are very dangerous. In the most of the cases, they require major surgery.

Both are likely to impair the ability to walk without assistance.

Test have proven that one in every two Caucasian women and one in eight men over the age of 50 are probable to suffer an osteoporosis related fracture at some time in their remaining lifetime.

Some women can lose almost 20% of bone mass only in the first 5-7 years after the menopause, increasing their susceptibility to the disease.

Important factors that can determine the disease are: a thin/small frame, anorexia nervosa, advanced age, post menopause including early or induced menopause, the existence of the disease in the family history, low testosterone in men, sedentary lifestyle, low calcium diet, smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol.

Prevention

Osteoporosis is a disease that needs to be prevented. No one is too young to prepare herself or himself to fight against it.

This can begin in early childhood and even teen years by building strong bones, the best foundation for prevention in later years.

The average woman will have acquired 98% of her skeletal mass by the age of twenty.

Good to start at any age, there are three fundamental steps you can take to reduce the chances of suffering from osteoporosis.

· A healthy diet rich especially in calcium and vitamin D.
· A good lifestyle with without alcohol and smoking.
· A regular routine of weight bearing exercises.

Older people or any other ones who feel they might be at risk, are advised to seek medical advice on the size of weights and intensity of the routines, because there is the danger of overdoing it which may result in fracture if the disease already exists inside their body.

The critical years for building bone mass in women are from childhood to age thirty.

According to some medical experts, a balanced diet and regular exercise can determine the increase of the bone mass by as much as 20% in women by age thirty.

Bone density measurements can be taken in various parts of the body without any pain, discomfort or invasive procedure.

The tests that help people to prevent and treat osteoporosis

· can show your rate of bone density loss and monitor the effects on a regular basis.
· are able to detect the disease before suffering a related fracture so precautionary steps can be taken.
· can predict your future chances of suffering a fracture due to the disease.

It is a wise precaution to consult your medical advisor and request bone density tests if you think there is a chance that you are at risk.

Regular exercise, a healthy diet and lifestyle will help prevent and fight virtually every disease.

All these are necessary because what you must know is that with osteoporosis there are NO warning signs, no symptoms meant to put you on your guard. This is the reason for which osteoporosis is often referred to as "the silent disease".

Osteoporosis Can Strike at Thirty Although osteoporosis is known to appear especially on older people, the truth is that the disease can strike at any age. Therefore, millions and millions of people are at risk. And not only women even though osteoporosis is associated in most of the cases with them, but also men can suffer from this debilitating condition.

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