Nutrition Category
May is National Osteoporosis Awareness Month
Half of all women over 50 will fracture a wrist, shoulder, vertebra, hip, or some other bone in their remaining lifetime. Increasing Fracture Risk is totally natural as a person ages. But there are actions we all can take to minimize our increased Fracture Risk. Most of these actions have nothing to do with taking another medication.
Awareness that simple actions can decrease Fracture Risk was the big theme at the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF) annual meeting this past week. We can cut that risk a lot. Awareness that many fractures can be prevented is the first step.
Genistein – “Estrogen” from Soybeans
Genistein is the main active ingredient in the “Medical Food” Fosteum. A “medical food” is a “natural supplement” of nutrients not commonly found in regular food, which is designed to treat a specific disease. Post-Menopausal Osteoporosis is the disease specified for Fosteum. A “medical food” must be prescribed by a physician.
Genestein is a natural isoflavone phyto-estrogen found in low concentrations in soybeans. A phyto-estrogen is a substance found in a plant which is similar to human estrogen. A phyto-estrogen can trick some estrogen receptors in a human into responding as if it were human estrogen. Other estrogen receptors may not be fooled or may be blocked.
Strontium Increases Bone Mineral Density, But…
The secret ingredient which incrreases Bone Mineral Density in some “Natural Supplements” sold in the US is Strontium Citrate. Strontium has more than twice the atomic weight of Calcium. Bone places Strontium where Calcium belongs in the bone crystal latice. Bone with Strontium has a higher Bone Mineral Density than bone with only Calcium.
But is it stronger? Increasing Bone Mineral Density with Fluoride makes bone more brittle. We do not know all the effects of Strontium, although we do know some. A Strontium atom is bigger than a Calcium atom. Therefore, using Strontium istead of Calcium can distort the crystal latice that gives bone it’s rigid strength. That probably is not good.