New England Health Advisory

As I wheeled a shopping cart through my local supermarket last week, I rounded the corner and saw a giant display that featured a photograph of crisp, blue ocean waters, clean white beach and palm trees loaded with coconuts. Piled high in the center were small bottles of coconut water and narrow glass containers of coconut oil.

I stopped and looked for a moment. As a health writer, I’m always intrigued by new foods and drinks, and what wellness benefits they may offer. And as a person whose exposure to coconut has been pretty limited, I was quite curious. As a kid, I saw coconuts used in myriad wacky ways on Gilligan’s Island. And I’ve certainly enjoyed shredded coconut on many a cake over the years. But now my interest was piqued: Can coconut contribute to good health? Come along on my coconut caravan as I find out!

Coconut Oil

I started by learning about coconut oil, which comes from the meat of the coconut and contains about 92% saturated fat. This means that when it comes to caloric content, coconut oil is very similar to other fats that people use for cooking; saturated fat-wise, it’s actually close to butter. It’s where the calories come from that may make coconut oil a bit healthier.

The calories in coconut oil are derived from fatty acids called medium-chain triglycerides, or MCTs. MCTs are shorter than long-chain triglycerides, or LCTs. MCTs have a shorter chain of molecules, which allows them to be absorbed faster and easier than other fats and metabolized by the digestive system more quickly. MCTs may also have a protective effect on the heart, by raising HDL (sometimes known as “good cholesterol”).

Coconut oil devotees say that the MCTs in coconut oil can help people lose weight and manage many other health conditions and diseases, from heart disease to diabetes.

But what’s the truth?

Unfortunately, right now there isn’t substantial evidence that proves that coconut oil is healthier than other oils. MCTs may have a leg up on LCTs, but there haven’t been any large-scale studies that show that shorter MCTs ultimately lead to weight loss, better heart health or a lower risk of stroke. Some decades-old research on populations whose cuisines feature coconut oil shows low rates of heart disease, but there are too many variables to consider: People of East Asian nations or the Pacific Islands may eat more fruits and vegetables, and fewer donuts, or get more exercise, or have any number of other health behaviors that can skew the results.

But this doesn’t mean that modern-day researchers aren’t interested in learning more. For example, the August 2009 issue of Diabetes featured an animal study, “Enhancement of muscle mitochondrial oxidative capacity and alterations in insulin action are lipid species-dependent: Potent tissue-specific effects of medium chain fatty acids,” which suggests that MCTs can help protect against insulin resistance, a precursor to Type 2 diabetes. In this study, mice were fed diets that contained either MCTs or LCTs; at the end of the five-week period, the mice that received the MCTs weighed less and had better glucose tolerance. The authors concluded that “ … dietary supplementation with MCFA [medium-chain fatty acids] may therefore be beneficial for preventing obesity and peripheral insulin resistance.”

This is promising and offers some proof that MCTs are beneficial and may help promote weight loss because of the way that mammalian bodies metabolize them. But it’s a long way from mice to men, and more research is needed on MCTs, as well as the role they play in foods.

If you want to add coconut oil to your diet, it’s certainly safe and easy enough to do: Simply replace the oils and fats you normally use with virgin coconut oil. Just remember that coconut oil is quite high in saturated fat, so be careful not to take in too many extra calories. At the end of the day, fat is fat. We know that olive, safflower and canola oils are healthier fats, so these are other good options for cutting calories when cooking.

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Coconut Water

Next I turned my attention to the other item in the beach-inspired product display: coconut water. Coconut water comes from young, green coconuts, and it tastes nutty and slightly sweet. It’s currently enjoying its moment in the proverbial sun, as industry giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have recently introduced their own lines of coconut waters.

Nutritionally, coconut water does boast special features and is in some ways deserving of its nickname, “Nature’s Gatorade.” It contains a good deal of potassium: almost 490 milligrams in an 8-ounce serving. (By way of comparison, a medium-sized banana contains about 450 milligrams.) An 8-ounce serving also contains 44 milligrams of sodium (salt), as well as 10 grams of carbohydrates.

When compared ounce-for-ounce to Gatorade (a longtime workout standby), coconut water has virtually the same number of calories and carbohydrates. The main differences are the amounts of potassium and sodium (Gatorade has 30 milligrams and 110 milligrams, respectively). The other big difference is price: You’ll pay roughly $2 for an 8-ounce container of coconut water, and $3 for a 32-ounce bottle of Gatorade.

If you are curious about coconut water and eager to sip a new drink after your next moderate-intensity workout, it may be worth a try. Some people love the taste and say it re-hydrates and rejuvenates them better than other sports drinks. Others say that the potassium boost is just what their muscles need after a run or trip to the gym.

Just be forewarned that if you’ve completed a hard workout that makes you very sweaty, you may need to drink a lot of coconut water to restore your electrolytes. Gatorade or similar sports drinks, with their higher sodium content that is calibrated specifically to replenish the body’s salts and minerals, may be a more effective choice. And for everyday light workouts or walks, don’t forget about plain old water! It’s free, easy to find, and calorie-free—and although it doesn’t have the cachet of coconut, it does the trick when it comes to keeping you hydrated.

Yours in health,

Eugénie Olson
Contributing Editor
New England Health Advisory

In the 20 years that I’ve been practicing medicine, diagnoses of diabetes have gone up every year.

It looks like it will keep getting worse, because medicine is still not focusing on the real solution.

Diabetes is a problem of diet, and the solution must come from food, not drugs.

Yet new drugs are used in ever-greater numbers.

And some of these drugs cause real problems!

The new diabetic drugs Avandia and Actos, for example increase a woman’s chance of breaking a bone by 50%. If you’re over 65 years old, your chances jump to 70%.

And broken bones aren’t the only problem.

Avandia is linked to over 83,000 heart attacks between 1999 and 2007. If you take Avandia, you have a 43% greater chance of having a heart attack. And your risk of dying from a heart attack increases by 65%.

In 2009, Avandia caused 304 deaths in three months. It was the highest death rate of any prescription drug during that period.

Before you think you can just switch to Actos:

Actos does seem to lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, and death. But when it was tested, researchers found Actos actually increased the chance of serious heart failure.

Thousands of people are still on these drugs. If you’re one of them, I suggest you talk to your doctor about the risks, your options, and what it means to you.

A better way to manage your blood sugar is to pay close attention to what you eat and supplement with the nutrients we are lacking in modern times:

• Avoid starches: Stay away from bread, bagels, muffins, cookies and cake, as well as grains like corn, potatoes, and rice.
• Choose good-quality protein: Grass-fed beef, free-range poultry, cage-free eggs and wild salmon are all good choices.
• Choose low-glycemic vegetables: Above-ground veggies are best. They don’t spike your blood sugar. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans and leafy green vegetables are good examples.
• Eat low-glycemic, whole fruit: Such as berries and those you eat with the skin on. Skip dried fruit and fruit juices, and avoid high fructose corn syrup, as it contributes to insulin resistance.
• Avoid processed foods: They’re loaded with bad fats and carbs, artificial sweeteners and preservatives.

The main nutrient deficiency causing blood sugar problems in modern America is chromium:

• Chromium: Chromium makes your insulin work better. It moves your blood glucose from the bloodstream into your cells for energy. Ninety percent of American adults have a chromium-deficient diet even though chromium is in foods like meat, cheese, fruits, and vegetables. Chromium isn’t absorbed when you take it by itself. Take 400 mcg in a form called “chromium polynicotinate.” This form contains a carrier molecule to help it get into your blood and tissues.

Before considering medications, I usually try a combination of herbs to lower blood sugar:

• Gymnema Sylvestre: This herb may reduce your cravings for sugary snacks. Patients who took 400 mg of this extract daily for 18 to 20 months along with their oral medications showed a significant drop in their fasting blood sugar levels.
• Cinnamon: The same spice you use in apple pie contains a compound that works with insulin to increase glucose metabolism by roughly 20 times. Take 1-6 grams per day for best results.
• Fenugreek: Fenugreek is one of the herbs used in curry. Fenugreek stimulates insulin release. Many studies confirm the seed and herb help stabilize blood sugar in patients with insulin problems.8 Start with 100 mg of powdered seed. You can find it in capsules, or you can soak powdered seed in water or juice and drink it. You can increase the dose to as much as 10 grams.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD
For New England Health Advisory

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1.    Morrow, R., Carney, G. et al. “Impact of rosiglitazone meta-analysis on use of glucose-lowering medications.” Open Medicine. 2010; 4(1).
2.    Nissen SE and Wolski K. “Effect of Rosiglitazone on the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Death from Cardiovascular Causes.” N Eng J Med 2007; 356: 2457-2471.
3.    Harris, G. “Research Ties Diabetes Drug to Heart Woes.” NY Times. 2010 Feb.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/health/policy/20avandia.html?pagewanted=al
4.    Kaul, S., Bolger, AF., et al. “Thiazolidinedione Drugs and Cardiovascular Risks: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology Foundation.” Circulation 2010;121;1868-1877.
5.    Juturu V., Komorowski J. R. ”Effect of Chromium Picolinate/Biotin Supplementation with Diabetes Education on Blood Sugar Levels in Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Program” The Internet Journal of Nutrition and Wellness. 2007; 3(1).
6.    Baskaran, K., et al. “Antidiabetic effect of a leaf extract from Gymnema sylvestre in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients.” J Ethnopharmacology. 30(3):295-305, 1990.
7.    Khan A, et al. “Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes.”Diabetes Care. 2003 Dec;26(12):3215-8.
8.    Raghuram, TC. et al. “Effect of fenugreek seeds on intravenous glucose disposition in non-insulin dependent diabetic patients.” Phytotherapy Research. 2006; 8(2):83-86.
9.    Kassaian N, et al. “Effect of fenugreek seeds on blood glucose and lipid profiles in type 2 diabetic patients.” Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2009 Jan;79(1):34-9.

Most of us have struggled with trying to lose weight at one time or another. We’ve gone on fad diets and started crazy exercise programs only to give up.

The sad truth is that 90% or more of those people who lose weight when they diet or follow a weight loss plan will regain it all–and in some cases, even more–within five years.

Americans spend $37 billion a year on weight loss products. Yet, 64.5% of adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese.

But there is another way. With seven simple steps, you can get set on a path to lose weight. Here’s what you’ll learn in Dr. Sears’ High-Speed Fat Loss in 7 Easy Steps program:

Step #1: Power up Your Metabolism with This Vital Nutrient … eating this one food throws a “metabolic switch” that ignites high-speed fat loss—burning your food for calories instead of storing it as body fat.

Step #2: Purge Empty “Energy Robbers” from Your Diet … foods containing these compounds increase your glycemic load, undermining your fat loss goals.

Step #3: Eat Fats Your Body Can Burn … eliminate from your diet those fats your body stores, and eat more of the fats that your body oxidizes, keeping you lean.

Step #4: Ingest Fat-Burning “Catalysts” … these are nature’s fat-loss nutrients—specific minerals that help your body metabolize fat more rapidly.

Step #5: Teach Your Body Not to Store Fat … a unique exercise program that stops your body from storing fat, helps you lose weight quickly. It doesn’t require endless hours in the gym. And anyone can do it!

Step #6: Adjust Your Metabolism to Get Lean and Mean … control your metabolism so you attain—and maintain—your ideal weight and body fat levels.

Step #7: Eat Like a King or Queen and Still Lose Weight … delicious fat-loss foods that let you lose weight while walking away from every meal satisfied and satiated.

Those are the broad strokes: The key concepts behind the seven-step weight loss system that’s been helping Dr. Sears’ patients lose fat for years.

Patients like Bill D., who says, “I have lost 13 pounds. But what’s more amazing is that I am leaner than I have been in years. My body fat went from 35% to 16%.”

And Sandy T., who tells us, “These treatments have allowed me to lose body fat and gain lean muscle mass. I now have incredible energy and a sense of well-being that I have not experienced for years.”

When your copy of Dr. Sears’ High-Speed Fat Loss in 7 Easy Steps arrives, examine it carefully. Study the workbook. Start following the food guidelines and doing the easy exercises. Keep a log of your daily activities by completing the worksheets.

If you have not lost all the pounds you wanted to shed … if you are not leaner, trimmer, and more energetic …

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Yours for Health and Wellness,

Andrew Palmer
Publisher
New England Health Advisory

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Do you have a healthy heart?

I ask myself that question all the time because heart attacks have killed the last three generations of men in my family. All died in their mid-50s when you would have thought life was just beginning.

But it’s just not my family, it’s many families. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cardiovascular disease kills 950,000 Americans every year. Millions more live disabled lifestyles caused by heart conditions—tired, out of breath and fearful of the slightest chest pain.

The question is, what can we do to avoid this fate?

You often hear that you should eat well and get plenty of exercise. But what does that really mean?

What foods should you stay away from and what should you eat? What type of exercise is best for heart health?

Our contributor Dr. Al Sears concisely answers these questions in his book “The Doctor’s Heart Cure.”  He discusses how dietary cholesterol is not our enemy—it’s the starches we eat that hurt us. Dr. Sears also discusses how long, low-intensity “cardio” exercise actually breaks down the reserve strength of our hearts. Instead, Dr. Sears advocates resistance training and interval training.

Please click here to empower yourself against the lightning fast and deadly strike of a heart attack or stroke.

Yours for health and wellness,

Andrew Palmer
Publisher
New England Health Advisory

P.S. Personally, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to prevent a heart attack, so I live see my grandkids. How about you?

Please click here to put an end to your worry … for good!

Did you know one of the best ways to lose weight is by walking?

I don’t mean going out and buying an expensive treadmill that will end up abandoned in a corner and used as a storage shelf or clothes hanger. You do not need to make an expensive purchase or join a fancy gym to lose weight.

All you need is a nice walk outside!

Many people walk outside at all times of the year, even in the winter. I admit it may sound more fun in Florida than in Maine come February, but that state’s residents aren’t called “Maineiacs” for nothing!

If weather is a problem, there are many free facilities you can use to do your winter walking. Many churches have gyms that are open to the public. There are also community centers with indoor tracks and most shopping malls open early for walkers.

Before you walk, don’t forget to warm up first by stretching and loosening up your muscles. Walking for exercise needs to become a routine. Once or twice a month will not give you the results you seek. You’ll want to do it three to four times a week to see results. Make it a part of your life.

Instant change is not going to happen.

The reality is that we don’t gain weight overnight. The changes in our bodies occurred slowly over time based on a series of decisions: Eating an extra serving of food at dinner, stopping at a fast food restaurant, taking the elevator instead of the stairs. So you’re not going to lose that extra weight overnight with a fad diet or fitness routine.

The secret is to make small changes to your diet while increasing your exercise (like starting a walking routine) over time to slowly lose those extra pounds.

And while you’re making better nutrition and fitness decisions, there’s a new product on the market that could help you drop your unwanted fat!

Our contributor Dr. Sears found a new clinical study that says it’s possible. In fact, he’s found what may be the most successful weight loss compound ever tested.

Please click on the link below to find out how this new safe and effective natural remedy ramps up your body’s ability to burn fat … and may just change your life.

Click here for details!

Yours for health and wellness,

Andrew Palmer
Publisher
New England Health Advisory

P.S. Sounds too good to be true, eh?  Take a look at this …

“I’m 50-years-old and started taking Primal Lean about six months ago. I’ve lost a total of 75 pounds and I’m now a size 2. A SIZE 2!!! I have never been a size 2 ever, probably not even as a child. Thrilled is an understatement. It has brought my marriage back to life. I am noticed everywhere I go. I have so much energy and am so sincerely happy I cannot begin to tell you. The ability to try on anything and be happy with the way it fits and looks is amazing.

“Dr. Sears, you have given me something I could never accomplish on my own. The smallest I could ever get was a size 8, which seems huge compared to the size I am wearing now. THANK YOU!!!!”

Our contributor Dr. Sears gets emails like this every week. Please click below to learn how this product can change your life too!

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By Inger Pols

Today I’m going to cover a topic of concern for most men: prostate health. But this topic is important for female readers too, as this information will likely be helpful to someone you love who does have a prostate and you’ll also find much of this information applies to breast or uterine health. Many scientists consider prostate cancer in men to be the equivalent of breast cancer in women because it is brought about by the same conditions, factors and imbalances that simply manifest in different sexual organs because of gender.

What is the Prostate and How Does it Work?

The prostate is a small gland about the size of a walnut just below the bladder and in front of the rectum. The prostate wraps around the urethra, a tube that takes urine from the bladder out through the penis. The prostate makes the milky fluid that carries the sperm, which is made in the testicles, out through the penis during ejaculation.

As men get older, enlargement of the prostate is a common concern, affecting more than half of men by age 60 and an estimated 80% by age 80. As the prostate enlarges, it presses against the bladder, resulting in a disruption of the flow of urine, causing frequent urination, difficulty urinating, a weak urine stream or a feeling that the bladder has not fully emptied.

Looking at those statistics, it may seem that prostate challenges are inevitable. But research shows there is much we can do to prevent these problems. However, the conditions we create in our bodies do not appear magically overnight; they are the result of the many small choices we make each day. There are no quick fixes for good health, but the recommendations below can have a positive effect over time.

Achieving and Maintaining a Healthy Prostate

Here are some of the things you can do to enhance prostate health (and if you are a woman, think breast health instead):

Eat a healthy balanced whole-food diet: Ensure you are consuming all the vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and phytonutrients your body needs. Take a whole-food supplement to cover any gaps. Eat more fiber, especially from vegetables, as vegetable fiber is shown to help with blood sugar and reduce the risk of prostate problems. Reduce or eliminate white sugars and flours from your diet and choose foods lower on the glycemic index that are rich in fiber and healthy fats.

Hormonal balance is important and I’m going to talk about balancing our sex hormones shortly. But you cannot balance your secondary (sex) hormones (i.e., testosterone and estrogen, which are very important to prostate health) when your primary hormones, like insulin, are out of balance. Balance your primary hormones by making sure that your blood sugar is regulated so that insulin is not a concern.

Reduce internal inflammation: It’s directly connected to prostate problems and tied to many cancers including prostate and breast. Johns Hopkins research shows that early stages of prostate cancer go hand in hand with chronic inflammation and that an anti-inflammatory diet can help correct this. Pay attention to high cholesterol not because cholesterol is bad; cholesterol is part of your body’s natural healing process. Rather, high cholesterol is an indication that inflammation is occurring in the body. Ubiquinol can help prevent the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation that causes inflammation in the arteries. Omega 3 can help reduce inflammation already present.

Cholesterol levels are important for another reason: Higher cholesterol typically indicates higher levels of estrogen in the body. (Estrogen levels are also usually higher in obese men.) Higher estrogen levels are shown to double the risk of stroke, significantly increase the risk of heart disease and increase thickening of the arteries. High estrogen levels are tied to prostate cancer as well, though some scientists think it hasn’t been studied enough because many men with high estrogen levels succumb to other diseases long before prostate concerns manifest.

Hormones are always about balance and our sex hormones are no different. When estrogen levels increase, it means that relatively speaking, there is less testosterone. (Or in women, less progesterone.) Testosterone is required to maintain a healthy prostate and men with higher levels of testosterone are better able to prevent prostate problems. Because it’s about balance, we either need to raise testosterone levels or eliminate the excess estrogen. Increasing testosterone can only be done effectively through a prescription medication that comes with a host of side effects.

But there are a number of ways to avoid excess estrogen, including reducing your meat and dairy intake. Humans are the only species on the planet whose adults drink milk (or consume large amounts through cheese, ice cream and other dairy products). Milk from perennially pregnant cows is, not surprisingly, laden with hormones such as estrogen.

In addition, we are daily bombarded with estrogenic compounds called xenoestrogens. These compounds can mimic estrogen and take up estrogen receptor sites, leaving the body’s estrogen to wander looking for an available receptor site. This excess estrogen imbalances our normal hormone ratios. Xenoestrogens are found in petroleum-based products, plastics, herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. They are in car emissions, paint, nail polish, soap, lotion, food, water and the air. Xenoestrogens result in an increase in belly fat or breast development in men as well as weight gain, allergies, sinus infections, fatigue, mood swings and the onset of andropause, the male equivalent of menopause. Andropause can result in impotence, low sex drive, low sperm count, low absorption of zinc, increased risk of heart disease, and not surprisingly, urination and prostate problems.

While we can reduce meat and dairy and improve our diets, we cannot control all the elements in our environment. This is where the supplement DIM (or diindolylmethane) that I spoke about in the last newsletter can help. DIM is a phytonutrient that occurs naturally in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. It was discovered about 10 years ago, but its benefits are only just now being understood.

Taking DIM has the equivalent effect of eating three pounds of broccoli a day. DIM is a natural estrogen balancer in women and men. It can promote healthy estrogen metabolism and prevent estrogen dominance, and is also shown to protect against cancer, heart disease and to support healthy prostate tissue and prevent prostate enlargement.

The plant indoles in cruciferous vegetables have been shown to regulate hormone metabolism and not only manage estrogen in men, they have also been shown to support a more desirable testosterone function. DIM can help estrogen break down into its “good” metabolites, which are responsible for the positive things we hear about estrogen: protection of heart and brain activity.

Slow estrogen metabolism can result in too much active estrogen, or estradiol, in the body, which causes problems like weight gain, diminished sex drive, male pattern baldness and prostate enlargement. DIM increases the “good” estrogen metabolites, which serve as antioxidants in the body and simultaneously decreases the “bad” metabolites, which are not antioxidants and can cause cancer in the body.

I don’t normally recommend specific supplements, but many of us (male and female) are estrogen dominant as a result of our diets and our environment and thus have hormonal imbalance issues. For anyone concerned about estrogen metabolism or hormonal imbalance, or dealing with the physical manifestations of such, I recommend the BioResponse form of DIM, as it is a naturally occurring phytonutrient that is microencapsulated to ensure absorption.

Other Ways to Support Prostate Health

Maintain a healthy weight. Obesity is tied to many health issues including heart attacks, diabetes and prostate problems. Excess weight around the mid-section is a particular concern, as it’s far more detrimental to our health than weight gain anywhere else in the body. Gaining weight or enlargement of the breasts is also a concern as it reflects excess estrogen.

Exercise for physical health and to reduce stress. Research shows that as little as 15 minutes of exercise a day reduced the mortality rate of men with prostate cancer. As exercise intensity levels and frequency increased, so did survival rates. Men who exercised three or more hours a week (moderate to intense exercise like jogging, cycling, tennis or swimming) reduced mortality rates by 35%. Men who walked four or more hours a week reduced mortality by 23% while men who walked 90 or more minutes at a brisk pace had a 51% less risk of death than those who walked less than 90 minutes at a slower easier pace. Those who engaged in vigorous physical activity for five or more hours a week showed a significant reduction in mortality.

Engage in frequent sexual activity or masturbation. Studies show that carcinogens pool in seminal fluid and that releasing the toxins from your prostate regularly improves prostate health. It’s the ejaculation process that is beneficial. Improvements are shown at two times a week, with additional protection afforded at three or more times a week. (And Dr. Oz just said the average American has sex once a week, but that increasing it to twice a week can add three years to your life.)

Release any buried anger and resentment. Holding onto it doesn’t serve you in any way and keeping negative emotions inside the body has a physical effect on our cells. Anger and resentment have long been correlated to cancerous cell growth in energy medicine and this idea is now being proven in research as well.  Negative feelings increase the stress level cortisol, a hormone that has been consistently found to repress the function of the immune system. When the immune system is not at the top of its game, the cancer cells that are present in every body have a better environment in which to multiply and can form tumor sites.

Suppression of anger, hate, grief or resentment can also the damage the emotional reflex center in the brain. Over time, this will result in a breakdown that will result in wrong messages being sent to the organ it controls, creating deformed or cancerous cell growth. Numerous studies of cancer patients have identified an unresolved conflict, or suppressed and unexpressed emotion, usually occurring several years before cancer emerged.

And when adrenaline is low, the environment is better for cancerous cell growth. High stress levels will deplete your adrenaline reserves enabling a cancerous environment. Let your feelings out and release stress in other ways such as meditation, deep breathing, journaling, music, and laughter. Laughter is a powerful stress reliever, so when you’ve had a bad day, find some friends you can laugh about it with, or watch a favorite funny movie and laugh out loud.

Research shows that vitamin D helps prevent a variety of cancers, including prostate and breast. In one study, supplementation was shown to reduce the PSA (prostate specific antigen) levels in men with prostate cancer. Another study revealed that men with high vitamin D levels were half as likely to develop aggressive forms of prostate cancer as men with lower levels, so get outside and get your daily dose of sunshine.

As for specific supplements or foods to enhance prostate health, there are many. There are a number of food studies that indicate the benefits of certain foods such as garlic, scallions, pomegranate, walnuts (for the omega 3s and gamma tocopherol, a form of vitamin E), coffee (for the antioxidants), cooked tomatoes (for the lycopene), bee pollen (for the zinc) and it never hurts to add more healthy foods to our diets.

There are also nutrient studies touting saw palmetto, zinc, boron, K2 and selenium but there are also risks of taking too much of these in supplement form. Generally speaking, taking any supplement in isolation limits its effectiveness. When you eat the foods themselves, or the food sources of the minerals and phytonutrients, it’s hard to overdose and they can offer great prostate health benefits.

By eating a balanced whole food diet and taking a whole-food supplement, you will be getting all the vitamins, minerals, trace minerals and phytonutrients you need together to absorb and fully utilize the benefits. That makes good sense for overall wellness as well as prostate health.

To your health!

Inger Pols
Editor of New England Health Advisory

There are 206 bones in the human skeleton that support and protect our internal organs and perform a number of important functions. But we rarely give them much thought unless we break one and we have to learn to function without it. When you’re a kid, it can be a cool badge of honor, but as an adult, it can wreak havoc with your life.

A few years ago, I broke my right wrist so severely that I now have a four-inch plate and two screws where my wrist bone once was. I was at the roller rink with my kids when a boy lost control and knocked me over. The accompanying nerve damage was excruciating and learning to bathe, dress, cook and take care of my little kids without the use of my wrist was quite a challenge.

It took me almost a year to fully recover, and as a result, I’m even more conscious of my bone health now.

If you’re struggling with wear and tear on hips or knees or perhaps you’re concerned about bone health and osteoporosis as you age (or you have a friend or family member who is), there is much you can do to prevent and even repair bone damage. Today I’m going to explore how you can avoid drugs, replacement surgeries and debilitating fractures as you age, and have strong healthy bones for life.

How our Bones Work

Our bones are meant to last: Exhumation at burial sites thousands of years old reveals intact skeletons. Ancient societies’ medical records reveal no issues or concerns with bone failure as people age. So what has changed?

Bones are continuously being built up and broken down. In fact, the entire human skeleton is replaced every 10 years. There are two types of cells in the bones needed to complete this task: Osteoblasts, which produce new bone, and osteoclasts, which are responsible for removing damaged or unnecessary cells from the bones. These cells work to structure your bones as you grow, to regulate calcium levels in the blood, and to repair stresses and damage from daily function.

In addition, almost all of our hormones, including testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, thyroid hormones and growth hormones have an effect on bones. We hear a lot about women being at risk for osteoporosis post-menopause, when estrogen levels in the body fall; clearly the hormone connection is real.

Osteoporosis occurs when bone tissues thin as we age, resulting in a loss of bone density. But is osteoporosis a problem? Rather, it is the fractures that could potentially result that cause the most concern. Research indicates that there are people with thin bones who never experience fracture and people whose bones are dense who do. So is bone density really the issue, or is it really all about minimizing fractures?

Thanks to aggressive marketing campaigns, everyone knows of the connection between calcium and bone health. I cringe every time I go into my kids’ schools and see posters of athletes and pop stars with white mustaches. The U.S., Australia, New Zealand and most of Western Europe are the largest consumers of dairy in the world. Yet we have more fractures than people from Asia and Africa. In fact, the populations of Africa and Asia consume almost no dairy, but have fracture rates 50%-70 % lower than ours.

Calcium may be important, but clearly it is not enough on its own.

Let’s look at how bones are structured.  Bones are made of an interwoven lattice-like structure: a collagen matrix. This makes up about 35% of the bones and it is what gives bone its flexibility. This matrix forms the base that then traps calcium phosphate, a mineral salt, which is also known as hydroxyapetite. Hydroxyapetite forms about 65% of bone mass and it is what gives bones its strength. Bones are also the depositories of many minerals that the body needs such as sodium, potassium and magnesium.

Tests measure bone density. But if you fall, what determines whether your bones fracture? Is it the density of the bone? If so, why don’t we see that thin bones consistently fracture and that dense bones do not?

Perhaps it’s not how thick the bone is, but rather, how flexible the collagen matrix is and how able it is to support you when you fall or find yourself out of your natural alignment. Caring for bones means more than just calcium; it means ensuring the flexibility of the collagen web.

What About Bisphonates?

Bisphonates such as Fosomax, Actonel and Boniva work in two ways: By preventing bone perforations that can weaken structure and by inhibiting the osteoclasts, the cells that break down old bone. Normal bone processes includes resorption, in which old bone is cleared away. But osteoporosis drugs prevent that process, so the old bone stays around longer.

Instead of a natural process that renews the bone skeleton every 10 years, the old bone is kept around and during the first year, new bone keeps getting built. That’s why many people see such great results short-term from bone building drugs. But after a while, that process peaks and just as the bone resorption stops, so does the bone creation. Somehow the osteoblasts that build bone are repressed by the bisphonates and the natural process is halted.

New research reveals that many people on these drugs have spontaneous fractures that are not trauma related but simply bones breaking while walking up stairs or performing normal daily routines. Ultimately, the old bone buildup and the lack of new bone growth may make the bones even more brittle than they were before!

When we looked at cholesterol, we talked about the “number needed to treat,” or NNT. (Some scientists say anything over 50 is like buying a lottery ticket.) A study of post-menopausal women showed that twice as many of the high-risk fracture group (history of a previous fracture and low bone density) on placebos had a fracture versus those on the drug Fosamax. This study result allowed Fosamax to claim a 50% reduction in fractures. But just as in the cholesterol fine print, we need to dig deeper to understand what that means.

The study shows that 2.2% of the placebo group had a fracture versus 1.1% of the Fosamax group. The net result of risk reduction was 1%. For every 100 women treated, 99 got no benefit. Those 99 would be much better served with diet and exercise changes given all the side effects of these drugs, including irregular heartbeats, increased fractures of the femur (isn’t that what we are trying to prevent?), ulcers and upper GI irritation, joint, bone and muscle pain, and rare but serious jaw bone decay.

So if drugs aren’t the answer, what can we do? The answer lies in exercise and diet.

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Exercise: Get Moving

Weight bearing exercise is critical to bone strength. As a cycling instructor, I paid attention when a cycling magazine reported that they looked at the bones of professional/serious cyclists and found men in their 50s with hip bone density similar to that of elderly women. There is something about the cycling movement that grinds the hipbone and if you ride to excess without weight bearing exercise, it takes its toll on your hips.

Cyclist or not, we all need to walk, run, hike, dance or climb stairs to get exercise. And we should also work on strength training. While lifting weights can be done in a gym, you can also use household or kitchen items and perform body weight exercises such as push-ups.

And since fractures have a lot to do with flexibility, stretching is key. The hip flexor muscle in particular needs to be flexible enough to respond should you fall out of normal alignment. Yoga and tai chi can be helpful, but you can just lie on the floor and stretch at home, too.

Balance training can also be helpful: The better your balance the less likely you are to tumble and encourage fractures. Try standing on one foot without holding onto anything. If that’s easy, close your eyes. Practice over time and your balance will improve: You’ll be able to hold that pose for longer periods of time with greater stability.

Bone-Building Diet Options

The complex interplay of minerals and nutrients for bone health means that dietary answers are not as simple as taking more calcium. Calcium needs approximately 16 other nutrients in order to be utilized by your body and dairy calcium does not deliver those nutrients. So taking dairy as a source of calcium is not helpful unless you also consume a wide variety of plant foods to access those other nutrients. But since calcium can also be delivered through those same plant foods, increasing dairy is ultimately unnecessary.

Calcium is not enough. Collagen and the vitamin C required to make it are critical. In fact, some researchers have suggested that vitamin C is as integral to bone health—or given our deficiencies, perhaps even more so—than calcium. Vitamin C stimulates the enzymes that create the connective tissue and the collagen. But collagen also requires adequate protein for formulation. A deficiency of either one, protein or vitamin C, may weaken the collagen matrix and prevent the calcium salts from being retained.

Man is one of the few mammals that cannot make vitamin C in its liver, so we must ingest all our daily vitamin C requirements. Vitamin C is not stored in the body, so it must be continually replenished.

The prior Recommended Daily Allowance of vitamin C—60 mg—was selected to avoid scurvy, a disease that occurs when we are extremely vitamin C deficient.

Researchers now recommend that we get a minimum of 200 mg of vitamin C a day, though a recent study on college age men showed they needed as much as 1,000 mg a day. 200 should be sufficient for most of us, but getting that amount means at least five servings of fruits and vegetables. We know about citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruits, as well as berries like strawberries and raspberries, but vegetables are good sources of vitamin C as well, without the blood sugar impact. Dark green leafy vegetables like kale, spinach, collard greens and asparagus are all good sources of vitamin C.

Vitamin D is also required for calcium absorption (so we need to get our daily dose of sunshine), as are a host of other minerals including phosphorus, magnesium, boron, copper, manganese, silica, zinc, folic acid and vitamins B12, A and K.

Its best to get these minerals through a whole plant food diet: dark green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, seaweeds and some fish. But if you can’t do that, a whole food supplement can help bridge the gap. (Just note that with vitamin C, you will want to consume several smaller doses a day instead of one larger one.) We also need the presence of healthy fats (omega-3s) to perform necessary body functions around vitamin absorption.

Finally, it’s important to know that an overly acidic diet will weaken our bones. Acid creating foods such as alcohol, sugar, flour, grains, meat fish, poultry and eggs pull calcium and other minerals out of teeth and bones. The more minerals there are in a food, the more alkaline it is, so eating fruits, vegetables, seaweeds, salt and other alkalizing foods can help balance out too much acid and support our natural healing and bone repair process.

To your health!

Inger Pols
Editor of New England Health Advisory

P.S. As I mentioned above, humans cannot produce their own vitamin C, so it must come from our diet. It’s one of the most important, yet often overlooked vitamins. Most animals make 4,000 mg to 6,000 mg of vitamin C just to carry out regular functions. While most people are lucky to get 150 mg a day from their normal diet.

Aside from regular maintenance, vitamin C is needed for the production of collagen, which forms the walls of you blood vessels. This makes vitamin C a key player for heart and brain health. It’s also a powerful antioxidant, critical for good skin and vital for healthy bones.

In addition to fighting the action of free radicals, vitamin C reduces inflammation and boosts immune response. To get this vital nutrient, click here.

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