Dr. George: Various Factors Influence Bones

Dear Readers:

Last week’s question concerned the major epidemic disease that results in 1.2 million of our people experiencing fractures each year–osteoporosis. Because current management of this serious illness is a failure for most people, I summarized a number of other avenues that are available to help you maintain healthy bones.

My article a week ago pointed out how the bones of the skeleton are a storage waterhouse that provides the body with a source of calcium when the main functional demands for it are greater than dietary intake.

If you missed last week’s article, I would suggest you contact the O.V.N. for a copy as there is a great deal more than calcium involved when bones become osteoporotic.

This week I promised to cover some half-dozen important factors that have well documented evidence of their relationship to the preservation of the health of our bones. Do keep in mind the first article emphasized that your initial responsibility is to seriously look at the role sugar, caffeine, soft drinks and alcohol play in causing calcium to be pulled out of our skeletal bones.

Actually, much of what follows has been known and was reported in the medical literature numbers of years ago. The most surprising revelation, just recently coming to the fore, is the part Vitamin K plays in this disease process. Until recently, vitamin K’s role in the clotting of blood has overshadowed its other attributes.

Studies have shown that most people who break bones and experience hip fractures are found to have only one third the normal amount of vitamin K, even though their clotting time proves to be normal. Then too, the highly involved process of carboxylation and osteocalcin that are involved in the formation of new bone crystals must be considered as it is needed in order for this complicated procedure to take place. In addition the urine is found to excrete more calcium when vitamin K levels are low.

It is often claimed that people don’t have to worry about obtaining enough vitamin K from their diet or by supplements as it is made in our intestines by friendly bacteria. While true, this overlooks the fact that the frequent use of antibiotics kill these bacteria and thereby account for the deficiencies that are now prevalent.

Vitamin K is found mainly in vegetables. Small amounts are present in yogurt, molasses, oatmeal and liver, none of which most individuals eat to any extent.

There are three varieties of vitamin K, called K-1, K-2, and K-3. The K-3 type has caused toxic reactions in some people. In the treatment of osteoporosis, doctors familiar with this research use capsules of K-2in 100 mg. amounts, three or four times daily, as it appears free of toxicity.

Another important mineral, only recently considered essential for people, is boron. Animals on boron-deficient diets developed abnormalities of vitamin D and magnesium, both critical to bone health. An Australian doctor studied 20,000 people with osteoarthritis who lived in areas where soil levels were very low in boron. He found success using this mineral during treatment. Other doctors, learning of the good effect of boron on vitamin D metabolism, subsequently found it helpful in treating osteoporosis.

Fruits and vegetables are the main sources of boron. Supplements of one to three mg. are now available and many multiple vitamin products now contain boron.

Two other nutrients, B6 and folic acid, are seriously implicated in the occurrence of osteoporosis through their technical relationship to the metabolism of homocysteine. Osteoporosis has been produced in rats placed on diets deficient in B6. Of the groups of people tested, as many as half of them were found to be short in B6 levels.

Folic acid deficiency is rather common, involving about 22 percent of people over 65 years of age.

The third part of this article on osteoporosis will appear in next week’s O.V.N. In it I will bring information about other nutrients that are important for you to consider in keeping your bones healthy and strong. In addition I will tell you about a new supplement that has been developed by two leading nutritional physicians that furnishes a way to obtain all of these various minerals and vitamins.