Most of us know that a woman’s risk for osteoporosis increases with age. But you may not know that osteoporosis and heart disease share many of the same risk factors. If you’re at risk for one, chances are you’re at risk for both. In fact, in one of the largest studies of its kind, women with subclinical heart disease had a four times higher risk for bone loss and broken bones than women without heart disease.

Subclinical heart disease means that you don’t yet have any symptoms, but the disease has begun. Before your doctor even tells you that you have high blood pressure, beginning atherosclerosis, or high cholesterol, heart disease has started and it has already started to make your bones brittle.

That’s not all. The reverse is also true. Low bone density is related to an increased risk for heart disease. Researchers recently reviewed 70 studies that investigated this association. Here is some of what they found.

• Calcification in the arteries can indicate a higher risk for lower bone density.

• People with calcifications had an increased risk of dying from heart disease.

• The higher risk for breaking the hip was found after all diagnoses of heart disease in both men and women.

• People with peripheral artery disease (PAD) had lower bone density.

• There’s a link between high cholesterol and heart disease.

Too much of a good thing…

One reason for so many cases of heart disease and osteoporosis is calcium, the most popular mineral of all. It’s the one doctors keep telling their patients to increase in their supplements. The problem with calcium is that many people get too much of it, and your body may not absorb some forms. If your bones can’t absorb calcium, you risk having low bone density and fractures.

Malabsorption is a big problem because the calcium in your food and supplements has to go somewhere. If it can’t get into your bones, it collects in your joints and becomes arthritis. Or it builds up in your arteries and turns into atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart disease.

Calcium malabsorption occurs when you take too much calcium and not enough magnesium. I’ve talked about this for decades — in my first book, The Nutrition Detective published in 1985, in my first article for Women’s Health Letter (1995), in User’s Guide to Calcium and Magnesium (Basic Health, 2002), and in numerous newsletter articles. Still, misinformation about calcium is the single most popular subject of questions from my readers. Let me try once more to explain what’s happening.

You need sufficient amounts of a well-absorbed form of magnesium to carry calcium into your bones. By sufficient amounts, I mean at least as much magnesium as calcium. In many cases, 500-600 mg of each in a supplement is plenty. The rest should come from your diet. Warning: magnesium oxide is inexpensive, used in many supplements, and is poorly absorbed. Don’t use it. And please read the labels of all multi-vitamins. Most have twice as much calcium as magnesium.

Much of your minerals should come from foods. This is because dietary calcium is better absorbed than calcium in pills or capsules. And calcium isn’t found just in dairy products. You get plenty of calcium (and magnesium) in dark green leafy vegetables, whole grains, and nuts and seeds. Getting enough calcium is not the issue here. Getting enough magnesium is.

Suggestion: Take 500 mg each of calcium and magnesium in your daily supplements. I formulated Women’s Vitality specifically to supply these exact amounts of calcium and magnesium for women. Taking this multivitamin from Advanced Bionutritionals supplies all the calcium you need from supplements. Get the rest from your diet. Eat a little dairy if you like (one serving a day) and boost your intake of the above foods that contain both minerals. Increase supplemental magnesium to bowel tolerance if you’ve gone overboard with calcium in the past.

Too little of a good thing…..

Another possibility is that you may need more calcium. This may be related to digestive problems. There are several ways in which digestive problems can impact calcium and magnesium absorption and put you at risk for heart disease and osteoporosis. Two very common ways are acid reflux and food sensitivities.

Antacids, used to stop the production of stomach acid, prevent your body from digesting both calcium and magnesium. Why? Because you can absorb these minerals only in an acidic environment. In most cases, antacids are the wrong remedy to take anyway. Acid reflux is not caused by too much stomach acid. It’s a condition triggered by a lax sphincter muscle in the esophagus that needs more stomach acid. Read my articles on acid reflux on my website for more information on this subject.

Suggestion: Stop using antacids if possible. Antacids can eventually negatively affect your heart and bones. Dietary changes may be all that’s needed. I’ve given lots of safe alternatives in past issues. When dietary changes aren’t enough, you may have low stomach acid. In that case, try taking some HCl, which is widely available on the Internet and in health food stores.

Gluten intolerance and celiac disease (often undiagnosed) can destroy some of the hair-like villi in your small intestines. Gluten is the protein in wheat, rye, and barley. An allergy or sensitivity to gluten can eventually prevent the absorption of calcium, magnesium, and protein. Your body usually carries these through the intestines and into the blood. But not when gluten has destroyed the villi.

Suggestion: Gluten intolerance is common. The only solution is to stop eating even small amounts of it. I’ve written extensively on this subject. Read my past articles and when in doubt try a gluten-free diet for a month to see how you feel. And for those times when gluten does make it into your diet, take a supplement (like Gluten Sensitivity Formula) that can help you digest the gluten. These simple suggestions could protect your heart and bones.

High cholesterol affects your bones

Researchers at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) found an association between high cholesterol and bone density. They knew that people with osteoporosis had elevated cholesterol and more clogged arteries. And they also knew that drugs used to lower cholesterol also reduced bone fractures. What these researchers discovered was why.

It had to do with high levels of oxidized cholesterol (known as LDL).

The researchers cultured healthy immune cells (T cells) with normal or oxidized LDL cells and stimulated half of the T cells to mimic an immune response. They left the other half of the T cells alone. All of the T cells made cells with one purpose: to stimulate cells that destroy bone. High LDL does more than increase your risk for heart disease. It increases your risk for bone loss as well.

Suggestion: If you have high LDL, it’s time to lower it — and your risk for two of the most common and serious illnesses for women. Begin by cleaning up your diet. Most cholesterol comes from your liver. Only 15% comes from your diet. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that neutralize oxidized LDL.

There are numerous supplements that can lower your cholesterol, including two I’ve used with my patients: Advanced Cholesterol Formula with LDL-lowering policosanol and Circutol (a total heart health formula). I personally take Circutol morning and night. It has lowered my blood pressure as well as my LDL. Both supplements (and others I’ve mentioned in this issue) are available from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395).

http://arthritis-research.com/imedia

News-Medical.Net - Latest Medical News and Research from Around the World
UCLA finds link between high cholesterol and osteoporosis 25. August 2009.

Lower Your Blood Pressure While You Tone Your Muscles

Several months ago, I told you that there was a way to reverse age-related flabby muscles. And I pointed out that a lack of muscle tone goes hand-in-hand with a loss of strength. It also puts you at an increased risk for falls — and broken bones. So it makes a lot of sense to tone your muscles. You can do this with a little exercise and by increasing your protein intake. But not all forms of protein work equally well. Bodybuilders discovered years ago that whey protein powder works best.

It turns out that whey protein has another benefit: it lowers elevated blood pressure.

Susan Fluegel, a nutritional biochemist at Washington State University, wanted to know whether or not whey really was effective in lowering blood pressure. A prior study said there were no blood pressure changes in people who drank a daily whey-fortified drink.

But Fluegel wasn’t convinced. She gave a whey-supplemented drink to a group of study participants. Unlike the prior study, she grouped people into different categories and found that whey lowered blood pressure by six points or more in some of them. But not in people with normal or low blood pressure. Whey worked only to lower blood pressure in people who already had high blood pressure. And it did this during the first week of the study!

The implications of Fluegel’s study are huge. When you can reduce blood pressure to this degree you reduce your risk of heart disease. And what’s more, you reduce your risk for dying of a stroke by 35-40%.

Whey protein is a safe and inexpensive way to tone muscles, regain your balance, and reduce your blood pressure if it’s high. But I’m totally against most whey protein powder.

Here’s why:

Most of them contain rBST, an artificial growth hormone that has been found to lower a cow’s lifespan. And in women, it can increase your risk for cancer.

There are whey concentrates and whey isolates. The isolate is the most popular form. Your body can absorb it a little better. But it’s more processed and less balanced. I don’t recommend whey isolate. The concentrates don’t go through as much processing and are more balanced. But it has to be the right type of whey.

The problem with American cows

Dairy cows are genetically programmed to give milk containing one of two forms of casein. The A1 milk contains a disease-promoting substance that can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and irritable bowel. All commercial dairy cows in this country produce A1 whey. Australian and New Zealand cows, as well as all sheep and goats, give healthful A2 dairy products. A2 whey is the only one I recommend.

The solution

Whey protein is the best solution I know of for anyone who has flabby muscles and/or high blood pressure. Just make sure you get whey concentrate from A2 cows. It’s the best quality, most easily digested form available.

Unfortunately, this was once nearly impossible to find. I searched for months trying to find a whey protein I could take and recommend. But I couldn’t find any. No one could guarantee their product had the healthful A2 casein. So I decided to go straight to the source and develop my own product. With the help of Advanced Bionutritionals, we conducted an extensive search to find a source that meets my strict specifications.

It was tough, but we were able to find one. And the result is a whey protein I can recommend with confidence. Advanced Protein Powder comes from New Zealand cows and is now available through Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395). It’s what I use in my morning smoothie.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210886.php.

The Amount of Vitamin D You Need Depends on More Than the Health of Your Bones

Last year, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended we all get more vitamin D than they had originally said. Instead of needing 400 IU daily, adults now need more like 600 to 800 IU per day. They based this increase on data from higher quality studies. But there was a problem with these studies. The researchers conducted them solely on bone health.

We all know our bones need plenty of this vitamin/hormone. Yet if you’ve been reading this newsletter for long, you probably know that there are dozens of health conditions that respond to increased amounts of vitamin D – not just healthy bones. The levels needed for many of these conditions are often much higher than the doses recommended by the IOM. In fact, it’s not unusual for someone to need 5,000 IU per day or even more.

The truth is how much vitamin D we need depends on more than the amount needed to support bone health – or any other conditions and illnesses. It also depends on our general health and our age. The older we are, the more nutrients we need in general. This is because we don’t absorb them as well as when we were younger. In addition, medications and illnesses deplete us of many nutrients. Most of us get fewer vitamins and minerals at a time when we need more of them.

Also, these new IOM recommendations fall short if you are obese, have osteoporosis, get limited exposure to the sun, or don’t digest and absorb nutrients well. Any of these put you in a “high risk” category, which increases your need for additional vitamin D. Let’s face it. How many women do you know who don’t fall into one or more of these categories?

Last April, the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) surprised me when they said that older adults might need up to 4,000 IU of vitamin D every day. And for those at high risk, perhaps even more.

The IOF said what I’ve been telling you for years. They also echoed my recommendation for seniors at risk to get a vitamin D blood test and take supplements until their level is up to 75 nmol/L. Most studies say that 35 nmol/L is enough. It’s not. It’s much too low to be protective or even to prevent symptoms associated with numerous illnesses.

If you’re not taking vitamin D, you’re depriving your body of the ability to protect against osteoporosis, heart disease, the flu, and many other illnesses. I typically recommend taking at least 5,000 IU daily. But you may need more. Ask your doctor to test your vitamin D levels. Then take enough vitamin D to push your levels up to 75 nmol/L. You can buy a high quality D3 supplement from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395) and at many health food stores.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210032.php.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/213251.php.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/210067.php.

Don’t Let Your Food Allergies Keep You From Eating Out

In these tough economic times, more restaurants are closing than opening. People are just not eating out as often as they had, and restaurants are suffering. I don’t know about you, but now when I choose a restaurant for a meal with friends, I make a conscious choice to go to one I want to stay in business. You can do the same thing by supporting restaurants that support you. Of course, the places I frequent need to fit my budget as well as my palate. They also need to fit my nutritional needs.

Restaurant owners are beginning to realize this. If they don’t serve the foods I can eat, I’ll go somewhere else. And so will the other people in my party. They’ll lose the revenue, and tips, from two, three, four, or more customers.

As you may know, I recently discovered I have gluten intolerance. That makes eating out challenging. Millions of people have known food allergies or gluten intolerance. And a growing number of restaurants are catering to us. In fact, I recently heard that a popular sandwich store chain is working on making a gluten-free bread that their allergic customers could buy. As someone with an extreme gluten sensitivity who enjoys eating out, I’m delighted.

Some are already recognizing the benefits of catering to people with food allergies. A number of food chains now offer gluten-free menus, and in my area (northern California) many other restaurants do, as well. In most cases, I’ve found servers to be knowledgeable about the source of allergens or willingly ask the chef about safe foods. Many of them take training courses in allergy safety and know that it’s not okay for them to pick croutons out of a pre-made salad or cook foods on a surface that allergens have been sitting on.

If you don’t know of restaurants in your area that offer allergy-free foods, AllergyEats.com, a website with a listing of allergy-friendly restaurants across the United States, may be able to find some for you. This site allows people with allergies to rate restaurants. So you can get a good idea about a restaurant’s willingness to help you order good foods you can eat from people who have been there before.

You can also get a set of four pocket-sized books from Allergy Free Passport (www.glutenfreepassport.com or 866-564-1440) that help you choose safe foods in American and ethnic restaurants. These books explain details you might not think of — like making sure that Chinese foods aren’t cooked in soy sauce if you’re gluten-intolerant (soy sauce is made with wheat). Instead, knowledgeable restaurants use Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids (a wheat-free soy sauce).

Don’t be reluctant to ask for foods you can eat and enjoy. Your health depends on it.

NUTRITION DETECTIVE

Boosting the Anti-Cancer Properties of Broccoli

You’ve probably heard that broccoli is protective against some forms of cancer. This is because it contains a chemical called sulforaphane, which is a powerful anti-cancer substance. But broccoli’s benefits occur only under particular conditions. And not all forms of this vegetable have the same action.

Sulforaphane needs the enzyme myrosinase in order to protect you against cancer and its inflammation. But overcooking broccoli will destroy myrosinase. Researchers suggest you steam it for just two to four minutes to get maximum benefits. So the first step is to avoid cooking your broccoli to death. It should be bright green and a little “al dente” (firm, but not hard) — not a dark green mush.

The newest form of broccoli is broccoli sprouts. Several years ago, their anti-cancer properties made headlines. These sprouts are, indeed, protective because they’re high in myrosinase. You can find broccoli sprouts in many supermarkets and health food stores. Add them to your salads or sandwiches.

Then there are broccoli powder supplements. They often contain a precursor to sulforaphane without the needed myrosinase. You may be tempted to pop a few broccoli powder capsules. But that’s not the ideal solution.

Researchers at the University of Illinois tested various forms of broccoli. They found a combination that nearly doubled its protective qualities. The most effective combination was eating broccoli sprouts with the broccoli powder. The myrosinase from the sprouts produced sulforaphane both from the sprouts and from the precursor in the broccoli powder. Add broccoli or other cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower and bok choy, to the sprouts and powder and you have a tasty cancer-fighting dish.

You can boost broccoli’s effectiveness with other foods that naturally contain sulforaphane. These include mustard, radishes, arugula, and wasabi. Without knowing about combining various forms of broccoli, I’ve been eating it with a mustard sauce. You can either do this, or just sprinkle sprouts on your broccoli.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/215065.php.

LETTERS

Q: I am a cancer survivor for 12 years. Do I still have to take calcium d-glucarate? I used to take omega-3 fish oil. But I stopped for fear of mercury contamination. My body already has a lot of mercury and I didn’t want to add anymore. — M.S., e-mail

A: Neither calcium d-glucarate nor any omega-3 oil will contribute to cancer, but mercury could. It’s a toxic heavy metal that isn’t safe in any amount. It’s much more important to get rid of your mercury than to look for the ideal supplements.

Good quality fish oil supplements, like those sold through Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395), contain no mercury or any other pollutants. So you’re not getting mercury from them.

This suggests that you’re getting mercury from your teeth or from eating fish. If you have old silver fillings, check with your dentist to make sure none are cracked or breaking down. If so, have them removed by a dentist who specializes in removing amalgams. Otherwise, mercury in your teeth can leak into the tissues in your mouth.

As for fish, you can stop eating it or remove any mercury you may have accumulated from your diet. I choose the latter because the oral detoxification
program I use will remove mercury, other heavy metals, and environmental pollutants.

I suggest you begin cleansing your blood by taking Pectasol Chelation Complex for one month. Then add Detox Complete, which removes heavy metals from tissues. Take the two supplements for at least six months and then re-test for mercury. You can find Pectasol Chelation Complex from Advanced Bionutritionals (800-791-3395) and Detox Complete from Econugenics (800-308-5518). I think we should all be taking two of each twice a day.

As for calcium d-glucarate, you only need it if you have excess estrogen. Ask your doctor about this.

Q: Stress is causing my hair to fall out in clumps. What hair is left is lifeless and limp and won’t even curl. What should I take to rejuvenate the hair follicles? — F.B., e-mail

A: Start by getting eight hours of sleep every night, eating a balanced, healthful diet, and engaging in daily stress-reduction practices like yoga, meditation, tai chi, or walking in nature.

In addition, you might find B vitamins and adaptogens like Rhodiola and Eleutherococcus (found in health food stores and online) useful. Have your iodine levels checked and take an iodine supplement like Iodoral if you’re low. Most people are. Stress uses up magnesium, the mineral that helps muscles, including the heart, relax. Take magnesium to bowel tolerance and make sure you take less calcium than magnesium.

And there’s another possibility. There is a brand new herbal extract that reduces anxiety and helps achieve a deep sleep. It’s excellent for stress. I’m researching it now and you’ll be among the first to hear about it next month.