It’s estimated that 34 million Americans have low bone mineral density, which raises the risk of fractures and development of brittle bones.
Postmenopausal women are particularly at risk, as 84% have either brittle bones or are on their way to developing the condition.
Brittle bones can increase your risk of falling and fracture, especially hip bone fractures. And when you’re older, fracturing your hip can mean a higher risk of serious complications and even death.
The loss of bone density has the potential to turn into a serious quality-of-life issue.
Even if you are lucky enough to survive a bone fragility fracture, your ability to enjoy life to its fullest and maintain your independence can become severely compromised.
How high is your risk for bone health concerns? If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions, you may be at an increased risk:
- Are you female and over 50 years of age?
- Have you ever broken a bone after a minor bump or fall?
- Have you or anyone in your family ever been diagnosed with a bone concern?
- Do you avoid or limit your sunlight exposure, regularly use sunscreen or cover your skin when outdoors?
- Do you miss out on doing at least 30 minutes of moderate– to high-impact resistance training several times a week (walking, aerobic exercise and low-impact resistance training don’t count)?
- Do you consume more than three servings of alcohol a day?
Why Your Bone Health Matters
Especially if you answered “yes” to more than one of the above questions, I recommend that you take action now.
Of course, nobody wants to worry about bone concerns and the increased risks they can bring. But because we are living longer, you must take action if you want to enjoy your life to the fullest and maintain your independence for as long as you can.
To do that, you need your bones to stay healthy and strong not just for recreation and pleasure but also to help protect you against falls, fractures, serious complications and premature death.
Your heart, lungs and brain depend on strong bones to protect them from injury. Plus, your bones become a warehouse for important minerals for your body to tap into throughout life.
Moreover, the latest research suggests taking care of your bones may help you maintain a sharp, clear mind as you grow older. In a study of 987 men and women, those with the lowest bone mass measurements were more than twice as likely to develop cognitive impairment than those with stronger bones.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking bone health support is just for seniors. The most important time for building healthy bones is during the first three decades of life.
Providing your body with the right bone-building nutrients and exercise are the most important things you can do to help ensure healthy, strong bones later in life.
And even if that “later in life” time has already arrived, it’s not too late to give your body the support it needs for building and maintaining strong, dense bones.*
Utilizing all the latest research and up-to-date knowledge, I’m pleased to tell you that it’s easier than you think to provide your bones with the right support.*
Understanding Your Body’s Bone Remodeling Process
Bones undergo a natural “remodeling” process known as osteogenesis to renew bone, repair microdamage and maintain strength.
About 5 to 10% of your entire skeleton is replaced by remodeling each year.
The remodeling process involves two types of cells:
- Osteoclasts – cells that break down old or damaged bone to make room for new bone, a process called resorption
- Osteoblasts – cells that build your bones and ensure bone formation and mineralization for the remodeling process
For healthy bones, the bone-forming activities of formation, or absorption, must be greater than bone breakdown, called resorption.
In the bone remodeling process, osteoclasts and osteoblasts work together throughout your life, beginning with skeletal development and maintaining bone strength into adulthood.
Your “bone growth” stage stretches from birth until about age 30. Because the foundation for strong bones begins at an early age, it’s important to give your bones the care they need as early in life as possible.
If your bones don’t receive the proper care, including the right nutrients, they can begin to weaken early in life.
This break-down process often happens without your knowledge because you can’t typically feel it happening – at least not in the early stages. That’s why bone loss is sometimes referred to as the “silent thief”.
How Aging and Hormones Affect Your Bone Health
While losing bone is a normal part of the aging process, some people lose bone density much faster than others. And that can lead to an increased risk of fracture.
As you age, the rate of bone remodeling increases, due to decreased levels of hormones and other endocrine changes. A remodeling imbalance – that is, resorption exceeds formation – leads to a loss of bone and bone strength.
Testosterone, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), cortisol, parathyroid hormone, leptin and even gut and pancreatic hormones influence bone modeling and bone metabolism.
However, estrogen is the major endocrine regulator of bone remodeling in both women and men.
Declining estrogen levels in menopause lead to a spike in osteoclast – or bone breakdown – activity. With low estrogen levels, bones break down faster than they can be rebuilt, leading to weakened, porous bones.
With the onset of menopause, normal bone loss accelerates for about five to seven years before returning to the slightly slower rate that men experience. A woman can lose as much as 35% of her bone density during those few, short years.
As bones suffer a loss in mass and density, they can also lose their ability to withstand a minor stress, like a fall or blow, and become more likely to break or fracture.
On the other hand, improved bone mineral density is associated with a lower risk of fragility fractures – and an improved quality of life.
What about exercise? Can movement and activity help strengthen bones?
Researchers are discovering that moderate– to high-intensity resistance training can significantly improve or maintain bone mass and bone density. Unfortunately, walking and other low impact exercises and training just don’t seem to be enough.
Is Your Diet Destroying Your Bones?
Many people have weak bones and don’t even know it. A recent animal study sheds some light on why that may be.
When young rats were fed the equivalent of an ultra-processed human diet with unhealthy fats, sugar and soft drinks, researchers discovered some alarming changes in the rats’ bone health, compared to the control group eating a standard rat diet.
They scanned the bones of these study rats to examine properties such as number of bones as well as bone length, volume, thickness and development. Their findings included:
- A severe disruption in skeletal development, resulting in significantly shorter bone length in body and legs.
- An increased risk of fracture as a result of poor bone development.
- A dramatic decrease in bone mineral density.
- Abnormal cartilage in the bone growth plate.
- Bone atrophy, as seen in reduced number and thickness of bones.
Processed junk food diets, especially those loaded with vegetable seed oils, aren’t just a problem with study rats. The Southampton Women’s Survey looked at data on 1,107 children to see how dietary and lifestyle factors affected bone health.
Researchers compared the bone mineral density and bone mineral content of children at birth, age 4 and age 6 to the number of supermarkets, healthy specialty stores and fast food outlets in their neighborhood.
A higher number of fast food outlets in the neighborhood was linked with lower bone mineral density and bone mineral content in the newborn group. The more healthy specialty stores selling fresh fruit and vegetables in the neighborhood, the higher bone mineral density in the age 4 and 6 groups.
Help Maintain Your Bone Health With the Right Bone–Supporting Nutrients*
Bone has always been thought of as a passive organ, but recent findings show bone is actually living tissue – an endocrine organ that plays a key role in your metabolism and cognition. It does this by regulating osteocalcin (OC), a protein produced by your osteoblasts.
The good news is, you can support your bone health with certain bone-supporting nutrients through healthy eating and nutritional supplements.
An adequate supply of vitamins and minerals is needed to support bone remodeling, including manganese, boron, silicon (or silica), strontium, calcium, magnesium and vitamins D3 and K2.
Each serving of our Bone Support with Strontium & Boron provides a daily supply of Strontium Citrate, Boron and Manganese chelates and Silica from Living Silica™ monomethylsilanetriol (MMST) – all necessary nutrients for supporting healthy bones.*
These nutrients work synergistically to provide your healthy bones with the nutrition they need.*
Let’s take a closer look at each nutrient in Bone Support…
Strontium Citrate – The Secret Ingredient for Bone Density and Strength*
Strontium is a naturally occurring mineral found in seawater, soil and water. It’s found in your body, too – about 99% of the strontium in your body is concentrated in your bones.
The major dietary source of strontium is seafood, but small amounts can be found in whole milk, wheat bran, meat, poultry and root vegetables.
Here’s what’s so unique about strontium and your bones…
It’s the only mineral known to do double duty – stimulate cells necessary for supporting new bone formation while at the same time promoting balanced activity against bone-destroying cells.
By playing both roles at the same time, almost more than any other ingredient, strontium powerfully promotes bone mass, density and bone strength.*
Some studies suggest that some women, in particular, may not absorb strontium as they should, making strontium supplementation especially important.
A recent study on postmenopausal women found that those who took a combination of strontium citrate, melatonin, vitamin K2 and vitamin D3 increased their bone density in the lumbar spine by 4.3% compared to placebo. Bone density in the femoral neck increased by 2.2%.*
Bone Support with Strontium & Boron provides 500 mg of Strontium from Strontium Citrate.
Here’s something important you should know about strontium: As a metal in the same group as calcium, strontium is much heavier and can compete with calcium for entry into your bone matrix.
Because both calcium and strontium are vitally important for healthy bones, I recommend taking Bone Support with Strontium & Boron at least two hours away from dietary sources of calcium or calcium supplements. By taking strontium and calcium at different times, you optimize the benefits of each.
How Silica Contributes to Your Bone Health
Silica helps build and maintain strong, dense bones, especially as you age.* It supports the regeneration of new bone and helps maintains bone thickness and elasticity.*
What is silica, or silicon dioxide, as it’s sometimes called?
One of the 97 natural building blocks from which minerals are formed, silicon appears on the Periodic table as the symbol Si and atomic number 14. In your body, silicon is the third most abundant trace element.
Of the 18 foods highest in silica, 11 are cereal products. Grains such as wheat, barley, oats and brown rice all contain silica, a natural building block of collagen. However, the form of silica present in foods is often an insoluble form, or one that cannot be easily absorbed in your gastrointestinal tract.
Because gluten free and low carb diets limit many of the best dietary sources of silica, you may not be consuming adequate silica if you follow a grain-restricted diet. A gluten free diet supplies about 30% less silica than the average American diet.
Age also affects how much silica you’re able to absorb and utilize. Silica from food must first be converted into a form called orthosilicic acid, or OSA, before it can be absorbed, and that conversion requires sufficient stomach acid.
As you age, your gastric pH increases as production of stomach acid declines. Less stomach acid impacts your ability to convert the silica into the right form for your body to absorb and utilize.
Human studies show that an increase in silica correlates with increased bone mineral density, bone volume and bone mass density.*
The 3 mg of Silica in Bone Support isn’t just any run of the mill silica but comes from Living Silica™ monomethylsilanetriol (MMST), a physician-developed, patented form of silica that has long been used around the world, especially in Europe.
MMST is metabolized into biologically active OSA, the form of silica that your body can readily utilize. With an absorption rate of 64% – or two to four times more than the leading supplemental sources of silica – MMST from Living Silica™ provides easily absorbable silica that your body can put to use.*
Boron: A Trace Mineral for Bone Health and Cognition
Boron is a trace mineral found in its highest concentrations in your bones and tooth enamel. Found in foods such as prunes, raisins, dried apricots and avocados. it plays a key role in promoting healthy bone function by helping to reduce your body’s excretion of calcium, magnesium and phosphorus.*
In a human study on 12 women between the ages of 48 and 82, 3 mg of supplemental boron markedly reduced the urinary losses of calcium and magnesium, especially when magnesium intake was low.*
Researchers aren’t exactly sure how boron acts on your bone, but it appears to enhance activity in your fibroblasts that influence the turnover of the bone matrix, allowing for changes in composition, structure and strength.*
Boron may be involved in the synthesis of certain vitamins and hormones, including vitamin D. It appears to stabilize and extend the life of vitamin D, which could explain at least some of its valuable bone-building properties.
Another interesting benefit from boron may be its role in brain function and cognition. When contrasted with high boron intake, low dietary boron resulted in significantly lower scores in cognition, including attention, perception and the ability to remember names and numbers.*
It’s estimated that half of the U.S. population consumes less than 1 mg of boron per day. Bone Support with Strontium & Boron provides 3 mg of Boron from Boron Amino Acid Chelate.
Why You Could Be Deficient in Manganese, the Bone-Forming Mineral
Manganese is another essential trace element that acts as a cofactor for many enzymes and is needed for bone formation.*
Your body requires a balanced, yet small amount of manganese for optimal bone and overall health. Your body normally contains about 10 to 20 mg of manganese, of which 25 to 40% is found in your bone.
Because manganese levels are difficult to assess with accuracy in humans, they’re not routinely measured by doctors. However, studies show blood levels of manganese are lower in menopausal women, compared to pre-menopausal women.
Animal studies show manganese deficiency can impair bone formation and reduce your bone mineral density, while manganese supplementation promotes both bone mineral density and bone formation in study subjects.*
Your body can’t make the manganese it needs, so you must get it from food. And herein lies the problem…
Crops that are typically high in manganese, such as leafy vegetables, whole grains, soybeans, coffee and tea, are commonly sprayed with the widely-used herbicide glyphosate to control weeds. The most recent estimates show 33% of wheat fields in the U.S. have been treated with glyphosate.
Agricultural experts have discovered that glyphosate limits plants’ absorption of micronutrients, including manganese, calcium and magnesium. Glyphosate chelates with manganese and leads to a mineral deficiency that causes yellowing of the leaves.
Indeed, a greenhouse experiment found that applying glyphosate led to a reduction in the concentration of manganese, calcium and magnesium in the young green leaves.
So because the food supply is rapidly becoming manganese-deficient due to the widespread (and growing) use of glyphosate, many more people will become deficient in the mineral, if they aren’t already.
Avoiding glyphosate isn’t easy. To do so, you must steer clear of all processed foods and choose only organically grown and clean, locally sourced produce.
For Total Bone Health Care, Combine Bone Support With Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamins D and K
So, for comprehensive bone health care, I recommend taking Calcium with Vitamins D3 & K2 and Magnesium L-Threonate in addition to Bone Support.
Here’s a quick snapshot of how each of these nutrients contribute to bone health:
Calcium helps make your bones dense, or hard and strong. This essential mineral is leached from your bones when your body’s stores of calcium fall, which can lead to decreased bone mass and the breakdown of bone.*
Vitamin D3 plays an important role in protecting your bones by helping your body absorb calcium and supporting muscles to help avoid falls. Low levels of vitamin D3 can raise your risk of bone fracture as you age.*
Vitamin K2 works synergistically with calcium, magnesium and vitamin D to build strong, healthy bone. Plus, it makes sure calcium ends up in the right place – in your bones and not your arteries.*
Magnesium works together with calcium, vitamins K2 and D3, and aids calcium absorption. Low levels of blood magnesium are linked with low bone density.*
While calcium and vitamin D are essential for healthy bones, studies show they aren’t enough by themselves. The intake of calcium and vitamin D only slightly reduce the risk of hip and other fractures.
Keep in mind, as you age:
- Your skin produces less vitamin D in response to sunlight.
- The pH in your jejunum, or the middle portion of your small intestine, starts to drop, hindering your absorption of calcium.
- Your ability to activate vitamin K2-activated proteins that regulate calcium decreases.
- Your absorption of magnesium decreases.
- The increased use of certain medications can result in magnesium deficiency
For youthful and strong bones, you need all of the essential bone-building nutrients, not just two or three. That’s why I recommend taking Calcium with Vitamins D3 & K2 and Magnesium L-Threonate in addition to Bone Support with Strontium & Boron.
Ideally, take Bone Support with Strontium & Boron before bedtime and Calcium with Vitamins D3 & K2 with your first meal of the day for optimal benefits from each nutrient.
Take Action Now, and Help Keep Your Bones Strong, Dense and Healthy*
As we’ve seen, your need for bone health support increases with each passing year. Age-related and environmental factors increasingly work against your body’s ability to utilize nutrients, and build and maintain strong bones.
Take matters into your own hands, and take the necessary actions to achieve and maintain healthy bone mass and bone density with Bone Support with Strontium & Boron.*
Get started on your bone-building plan today with Bone Support with Strontium & Boron and Calcium with Vitamins D3 & K2 for the essential bone-supporting nutrients you need to support healthy bone mineral density and the regeneration of new bones and order your supply today.*