Osteoporosis Prevention
Despite consuming the most dairy products and calcium supplements in the world, Canadians have one of the highest incidences of osteoporosis. Drug therapy has significant side effects such as heart problems, serious eye inflammations and osteonecrosis, a condition that causes your jaw bone to rot. Ironically, the drugs can actually worsen bone structure making them more susceptible to fracture than untreated bone. With 50% of healthy Canadian women likely to develop vertebral fractures as they age, preventing osteoporosis is a lifelong objective.
Determine Your Bone Mass
The first step in prevention is to evaluate your bone status. The DEXA scan can measure how much bone you have already lost. Urinary calcium excretion levels and the urinary excretion of a nitrate by-product can provide information on the rate of bone loss.
Eat Well and Get Active
Exercise and an effective dietary program all contribute to building strong bones. Diet should include lots of green leafy vegetables and nuts. Dairy foods are highly over-rated, and there is evidence that when you consume a lot of dairy it actually depletes precious calcium from your bones. The old adage “use it or lose it” holds true with bone health. You build and maintain strong bones by resistance activities and training. Test yourself daily with physical activities that challenge your muscles.
Strontium Rules
Medical studies over the past 50 years have clearly identified that the nutrient strontium, as a stand-alone therapy, can prevent and reverse osteoporosis. Therapeutic doses are safe and very effective. Additional supplementation with a good bone building formula contains not just calcium, but several minerals equally as important as calcium, that work in unison to support bone health.
Remove Heavy Metals
In some cases, lead and other metals interfere with proper bone metabolism. Toxic metal testing determines this heavy metal load in your body. Chelation therapy removes the metals, enabling a return to normal bone function. Additional benefits of chelation are reduced risk for cancer and heart disease.
Balance Your Hormones
Saliva and blood testing for estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and Vitamin D identifies deficiencies associated with an increase in osteoporosis. Once determined, hormone imbalances are corrected with natural hormones. Dr. Michael Platt, M.D., an expert on natural hormones, emphasizes that vitamin D is by far the most important hormone for treating osteoporosis. Levels are increased to optimal levels (not normal reference ranges) with large, therapeutic doses of emulsified vitamin D.