Prevent Bone Loss and Osteoporosis With Sodium and Potassium Bicarbonate

Eating and drinking an alkaline diet of fresh fruit and vegetables can reduce calcium excretion and boost bone health, says a new study.

Diets high in acidic protein and cereal grain produce an excess of acid residue in the body, which can increase calcium excretion, according to results to be published in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

"When it comes to dietary concerns regarding bone health, calcium and vitamin D have received the most attention, but there is increasing evidence that the acid/base balance of the diet is also important," said lead author Bess Dawson-Hughes from Tufts University in Boston.

Bone health is becoming a major segment of the supplements and functional foods market, as ageing populations and the additional strain from acid caused obesity swell the numbers affected by the symptom of osteoporosis. Already the lifetime risk for a woman to have an osteoporotic fracture is 30-40 per cent and in men the risk is about 13 per cent.

"As adults age they become less able to excrete the acid produced via environment, diet, and metabolism," states Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of the pH Miracle Living Center.

"Reacting to the increasing levels of dietary and metabolic acid, the body counters this by bone resorption, a process by which bones are broken down, releasing minerals such as calcium, phosphates, and alkaline (basic) salts into the blood to keep it alkaline at 7.364. Bone resorption weakens the bones and increases the risk of fracture," states Dr. Young.

Tufts researchers, in collaboration with scientists from Northeastern University in Boston, recruited 171 men and women aged 50 or older and randomly assigned them to receive supplements of potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride or placebo for three months.

Dawson-Hughes and her co-workers report that only bicarbonate-receiving volunteers had significant reductions in calcium excretion, which indicated a reduction in bone resorption.

"When fruit and vegetables are metabolized they add bicarbonate, an alkaline compound, to the body," said Dr. Dawson Hughes. "Our study found that bicarbonate had a favorable effect on bone resorption and calcium excretion. This suggests that increasing the alkali content of the diet may attenuate bone loss in healthy older adults."

"Achieving alkali-producing diets would require drastic changes in food choices and be challenging in older people who tend to have long-established dietary patterns," wrote the researchers.

"Should it be shown to be beneficial, an alternative approach may be to administer bicarbonate in supplement form or to lower the acid-producing capacity of selected foods through alkali fortification," they added.

"I created the nutritional supplement, pHour salts to help maintain the alkaline design of the body and to protect the bones and muscles from the acidic affects of an acidic lifestyle and diet. pHour salts is a combination of sodium, magnesium, potassium and calcium bicarbonate mineral salts. These four mineral salts are powerful alkalizing compounds in the body. The alkali affect in the blood and tissues will show up when you test your urine. The urine pH will show over 8 which indicates an alkaline state of the body tissues. Keeping the body alkaline is the best way to slow down aging and prevent dis-ease, including bone loss and the condition of osteoporosis," states Dr. Young.

Testosterone Therapy May Reduce Bone Loss in Older Men

(HealthDay News) -- Injections of testosterone appear to improve bone density and reduce bone loss in older men who have low testosterone levels and may help to prevent osteoporosis, a new study suggests.

Testosterone therapy has been used to improve bone strength and muscle mass in some men. However, the hormone treatment is controversial, because it has been associated with increasing the risk of prostate cancer and high levels of red blood cells. And other potential effects of long-term use of testosterone therapy aren't known.

"These preliminary data show beneficial effects of testosterone therapy on bone turnover markers in older men with low-to-normal testosterone concentrations using both continuous and monthly cycled testosterone replacement," lead researcher E. Lichar Dillon, of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, said in a prepared statement. "The effects of sex hormones on markers of bone formation are complex, but this is an important step in understanding how the process works."

Preliminary study results were expected to be presented April 7 at the American Physiological Society's annual meeting, during the Experimental Biology 2008 conference, in San Diego.

For the study, Dillon's team studied 13 men, ranging in age from 60 to 85. During the five-month trial, the men were either given weekly injections of testosterone, weekly injections of testosterone every other month, or a placebo.

The researchers found that men receiving testosterone had reduced bone turnover, compared with men on a placebo. While the effects of testosterone therapy over the long term aren't clear, the researchers said they believed the treatment would be beneficial by preserving bone mass and preventing osteoporosis.

One expert said the study was too small to prove or disprove the value of testosterone therapy in preventing bone loss and, perhaps, preventing osteoporosis.

"This small, short-term study indicates that men with low levels of testosterone respond to appropriate replacement as far as turnover markers indicate," said John Eisman, director of the Bone and Mineral Research Program at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in Sydney, Australia.

While calling the study "too small and too short to provide any insight into fracture-risk reduction or safety outcomes," Eisman said it does complement research he has done. "Our study showed that men with testosterone in the lowest quartile of the population had much higher risk of osteoporotic fractures," he said.

A large, long-term trial testing whether testosterone can prevent osteoporosis in men is needed to settle the question, Eisman said.

More information
To learn more about men and osteoporosis, visit the U.S. National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

One Billion People Don't Get Enough Vitamin D

(HealthDay News) -- Vitamin D deficiency is a common problem that can lead to a number of serious health conditions, but it can be prevented, says one expert.

People get vitamin D from sun exposure, diet and supplements. Yet vitamin D deficiency is all too common.

In utero and in childhood, not getting enough vitamin D can cause growth retardation, skeletal deformities and increase the risk of future hip fractures. In adults, too little vitamin D can lead to or exacerbate osteopenia, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, fractures, common cancers, autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

In the July 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Michael Holick, director of the General Clinical Research Center at Boston University School of Medicine and director of the Bone Healthcare Clinic at Boston Medical Center, published an overview of his work on vitamin D.

According to Holick, it has been estimated that one billion people in the world are vitamin D deficient or insufficient.

Without vitamin D, only 10 percent to 15 percent of dietary calcium and about 60 percent of phosphorus is absorbed by the body. This can have a direct effect on bone mineral density.

There is evidence that people who live at higher latitudes -- where the angle of the sun's rays is not sufficient to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D in the skin -- are more likely to develop and die of Hodgkin's lymphoma, colon, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, breast and other cancers.

And there is an association between low levels of vitamin D and increased risk for type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Holick says that the current recommended adequate intake for vitamin D needs to be increased to 800 to 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 per day.

"However, one can not obtain these amounts from most dietary sources unless one is eating oily fish frequently. Thus, sensible sun exposure (or UVB radiation) and/or supplements are required to satisfy the body's vitamin D requirement," Holick said in a prepared statement.

Holick added, "The goal of this paper is to make physicians aware of the medical problems associated with vitamin D deficiency. Physicians will then be able to impart this knowledge to their patients so they, too, will know how to recognize, treat and most importantly, maintain adequate levels of this important vitamin."

More information
The National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements has more about vitamin D.

Banishing Breast Cancer?

Banishing Breast Cancer?
I was treated for breast cancer five years ago and have been taking Tamoxifen ever since. I'm supposed to stop now. What can I do to prevent a recurrence?

Tamoxifen is an oral drug that blocks the effects of estrogen, the hormone that promotes growth of some breast cancer cells. It can help prevent recurrences of estrogen-receptor-positive breast tumors and is usually prescribed for five years after the primary treatment. Oncologists see no benefit to taking Tamoxifen for more than five years, both because patients are then past the time of highest risk for recurrence and because Tamoxifen can become less effective after an extended period of use, and yet half of breast cancer recurrences occur five or more years after diagnosis.

Results of a clinical trial involving 5,187 women in the United States, Canada and Europe show that another drug, letrozole (trade name FemaraTM), can nearly halve the risk of breast cancer recurrence among postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor-positive tumors. The results were so dramatic that investigators halted the trial so that they could offer letrozole to women taking a placebo. The study results were announced on October 9, 2003 and published in the November 6, 2003 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Letrozole works by blocking an enzyme (aromatase) that converts hormones from the adrenal gland to estrogen. The effect is to reduce blood levels of estrogen by more than 95 percent. Side effects include hot flashes, night sweats, sore muscles and an increased risk of osteoporosis. A separate sub-study is trying to determine the exact long-term effects of Femara on bone density. There is also concern that this drug might raise cholesterol levels over time.

Cancer experts still don't know how long women should take letrozole and whether doctors should recommend it to all women who have been on Tamoxifen. The current consensus seems to be that women just finishing their five years on Tamoxifen should consider taking letrozole.
You also can try to lower your estrogen levels, and thus your risk of breast cancer recurrence, by losing excess fat if you're overweight, getting regular exercise, reducing or eliminating consumption of alcohol, and eating only hormone-free beef and dairy products (if you eat those foods). Adding soy foods to your diet can also help. Make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and fish or flaxseed to get omega-3 fatty acids, and consider supplementing with CoQ10, which may be beneficial.

Andrew Weil, M.D.