In July 2002, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health stopped early a major clinical trial of the risks and benefits of combined estrogen and progestin in healthy menopausal women due to an increased risk of invasive breast cancer and other health complications. The study, which was scheduled to run until 2005, was stopped after an average follow- up of 5.2 years. The large multicenter trial, a component of the Women’s Health Initiative, also found increases in coronary heart disease, stroke, and pulmonary embolism in study participants on estrogen plus progestin compared to women taking placebo pills. There were noteworthy benefits of estrogen plus progestin, including fewer cases of hip fractures and colon cancer, but on balance the harm was greater than the benefit. There is a silver lining in this cloud, however. The use of HRT never was by any means the entire story of preventing and reversing osteoporosis or maintaining heart health. Perhaps now women’s doctors will help patients to go beyond HRT and rediscover that a healthy diet rich in a wide range of bone-building nutrients, smart use of nutritional supplements and consistent exercise remain the key to long-term bone health.

Bone loss in women can begin as early as 35. The loss accelerates in the eight to ten years prior to menopause and is especially high immediately after menopause.

The condition has become much more prevalent today than ever before. This is because, in the past, fewer women lived a significant numbers of years beyond their reproductive period. At the turn of the last century, a woman’s average life expectancy was approximately 50 years. Today it is nearly 80. These changing demographics have forced the medical community to examine health challenges women have never before faced on such a massive scale.

As more women today than ever before are living beyond their eighties, osteoporosis has reached epidemic proportions in the United States, afflicting 15 to 20 million Americans, and causing each year an estimated 1.3 million fractures of the vertebrae, hips, forearms, and other bones in those 45 years of age and older, with women in their mid-seventies and older being most vulnerable. By age 90, one-third of all women will suffer hip fractures, with death resulting in up to 20 percent of these, and long-term nursing home care for many others.

In the United States hip fracture health care costs up to $10 billion annually. These maladies, together with the need to treat menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings, created a burgeoning market for HRT. But those days are over.

This special supplement—found in Bone Maximizer™ II and Osteoplex ™ (with ipriflavone) from Metabolic Response Modifiers (MRM)—supplies calcium in the form it occurs in the body and is therefore absorbed quickly. Plus, it provides phosphorus and other bone-building nutrients, which is very important (see below). Our bone cells use protein and other nutrients to produce collagen. Through a crystallizing process, minerals such as calcium, phosphorous, magnesium and many others attach to the collagen fibers. This hardens and strengthens bones. MCHC provides collagen protein and stimulates crystallization processes. Plus, it’s an excellent source of trace elements too, like boron, copper, zinc and silica, also crucial to building strong bones. Although dietary deficiencies of these trace elements can lead to increased risk for osteoporosis, many women’s diets are deficient in them too.

Scientific Proof That MCHC is an extremely beneficial form of calcium is widely confirmed in the medical and scientific literature….

In a study from Current Medical Research and Opinion, mineral retention was measured in patients with nutritional osteomalacia (in which the essential problem is a lack of available calcium or phosphorus [or both] for mineralization of newly formed bones) or late rickets. “Mineral retention was markedly enhanced by supplementation with microcrystalline hydroxyapatite compound (MCHC),” they reported.

According to a July 1999 report in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine, continuous administration of a form of MCHC “prevents bone loss in postmenopausal women, suggesting that this ‘drug’ may be useful in the management of postmenopausal bone loss.” This study showed it outperformed calcium carbonate. (Actually, in the United States, MCHC is not considered to be a drug, but rather a nutritional supplement.)

The aim of a 1995 study, published in Osteoporosis International, was to evaluate whether MCHC is more effective than calcium carbonate in preventing further bone loss in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Forty osteoporotic patients were monitored for 20 months. The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups and treated in a doublemasked manner with 1400 mg calcium per day, in the form of either MCHC or calcium carbonate. After 20 months of treatment, the difference between the groups was statistically significant and showed MCHC “is more effective than [calcium carbonate] in slowing peripheral trabecular bone loss in patients with manifest osteoporosis.” So when you think of calcium, think MCHC. It’s a really good choice.

Beyond calcium, additional nutrients are critical to your bone matrix. We mentioned phosphorus. Most women don’t realize when they take calcium, this blocks absorption of phosphorous. According to a report in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition (2002;21:239-244), individuals taking calcium supplements are at risk of developing phosphorus deficiency.

In this study, researchers studied the effect of different levels of calcium intake on the absorption of phosphorus by healthy men and women between the ages of 19 and 78. They found that for each 500 mg per day increase in calcium intake, the absorption of phosphorus decreased by 166 mg per day. “For an elderly person taking 1,500 mg of supplemental calcium per day, that would translate to approximately a 45 percent reduction in the amount of phosphorus absorbed,” comments physician and nutrition expert Alan Gaby, M.D. “Supplementing with large amounts of calcium could lead to a phosphorus deficiency in people who are consuming marginal amounts of the mineral.” To prevent calcium-induced phosphorus deficiency, the authors of this study recommend that at least a portion of an older person’s calcium supplementation be taken in the form of a calcium-phosphate preparation, instead of the more commonly used calcium carbonate or calcium citrate. They point out that one of the most successful clinical studies of calcium supplementation in elderly people used such calcium-phosphorous supplements as the calcium source. Fortunately, MCHC contains both calcium and phosphorous in a two-to one ratio. This makes a supplement like Bone Maximizer II very unique,so with this supplement we address these issues, too. Bone Maximizer II additionally provides magnesium, zinc, boron, vitamin D3, vitamin K, vitamin C, methylsulfonylmethane (MSM), glucosamine, and horsetail extract (a source of bioavailable silica), all also important to bone health.

FYI:
Why Should Your Bone Health Supplement Contain Vitamin C & Zinc?

A deficiency of vitamin C is associated with osteoporosis. Bones cannot be built without calcium, and the matrix to build bone with calcium cannot be formed without vitamin C. Although most people seem to meet at least the minimum needs for vitamin C, the elderly are more likely to be deficient in this important vitamin.

Zinc is an important cofactor, together with the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, in bone metabolism. Women are most likely to suffer deficiencies.

For women at all stages of life, exercise is essential to skeletal health. That women of all ages need exercise is as true for daughters as for mothers and grandmothers. University of North Carolina researchers recently reported very active female college freshmen who also had a high calcium intake had nearly 17 percent more bone density than their less active peers with lower calcium intake. Furthermore, female freshmen who exercised at least four hours a week had even stronger bones; the amount of calcium they consumed was less important.

If possible and safe, high-intensity strength training is best. Tufts University and Pennsylvania State University researchers studied the impact of high-intensity strength training on 40 postmenopausal women whose ages ranged from 50 to 70 years; none of these women were using estrogen, exercised regularly, or were suffering osteoporosis. One group, using pneumatic exercise machines for 45 minutes, two days a week, for a year, exercised to strengthen their hips, knees, back, and abdomen. The other group did not exercise. One year later, the women who were engaged in the high-intensity exercises exhibited an increase in bone density in the area of their hips and spine. This is an important finding, as these areas of women’s bodies are most vulnerable to osteoporosis-related fractures. The women who did not exercise suffered loss of bone density. The women who exercised also demonstrated increases in muscle mass, muscle strength, and balance; these improvements help prevent falls in older women. In this sense, the study demonstrated that exercise might be even more effective than HRT. While estrogen will certainly help women retain bone density, exercise not only builds bone density but increases muscle mass, strength and balance; estrogen does not affect any of these other areas. Whether your exercise is low-impact aerobics, tennis, light weight resistance, rapid walking, jogging, hiking, or even pool activity, the point is to exercise consistently three to four times weekly for at least three to four hours total duration. Start easy. Build up your endurance, gradually exercising longer periods. You will receive an enormous health dividend. Your body will feel better. Your mind will feel better. One of the overall best activities for women is weight-bearing exercise. Women whose bones have been weakened by osteoporosis, however, must begin an easy and safe exercise program under medical supervision. Even a slight stress on fragile bones could result in fracture. If you choose weight-bearing exercise, you should start with extremely light amounts of resistance. Be sure to use both Bone Maximizer II and a good joint health supplement and topical if there is transient soreness. SYNergy™ Plus from MRM includes both an oral and topical formula, which provide solid joint support and help to relieve pain.

We also recommend exercise with water calisthenics. Even if a woman has arthritis, water therapy is excellent. There won’t be any load on the joints, and she can lay in the water and kick her feet; even just wading in water provides excellent resistance. Wading back and forth in four feet of water can even help heal some fractures. As their bone strength increases, such women can slowly increase the intensity of their exercise.