Fight Osteoporosis With Minerals To Build Bones And Improve Quality Of Life

2008-04-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

by vitanet1

Bone consists predominantly of collagen and calcium phosphate. The collagen provides the connective framework for bone that is hardened by the calcium phosphate, and without healthy bones, your quality of life would be significantly reduced due to bone breakage. That is why it is essential to supplement this framework with the vitamins and minerals needed to maintain a good bone density at those periods in your life when bone density is liable to deteriorate.

This begins to happen between the ages of 30 and 35 and in women and accelerates during the menopause, when your ovaries stop producing the hormone estrogen that is necessary for the maintenance of healthy bones. Through time, your bone mass drops creating first a condition known as osteopenia, or reduced bone mass, and then osteoporosis, when your bones become brittle, porous and very prone to fractures.

Before we look at what can be done to reduce your chances of developing osteoporosis, lets have a close look at how bone develop so that it will be easier to understand the remedial action that can be taken.

Calcium is the most common mineral in the body, and the vast majority is in the bones and teeth. Phosphorus is also essential for healthy bones because as stated earlier, the bone consists of collagen that is hardened by calcium phosphate. The two main uses of phosphorus are in bone structure and animal metabolism, since phosphates are also essential for the vast majority of the energy-production chemical reactions within your body.

Calcium has other functions within the body other than bone, however, including exchange of fluids within and between cells, the maintenance of your heartbeat and in blood clotting. Vitamin D is necessary to help calcium be absorbed from your diet, through the membranes of the duodenum. More calcium is absorbed there than in the small intestine, and the calcium is also most available to the body when it is in a water-soluble form.

In fact, the reason that stones form in your kidney for example, is that the calcium is rendered insoluble through the formation of calcium oxalate from the oxalic acid in foods such as rhubarb and soy. High fat diets can also slow down the absorption of calcium.

Estrogen plays a significant part in bone physiology, and is an important factor in the maintenance of bone density in women. Bone is living tissue, and is constantly being absorbed and remodeled throughout life. The part played by estrogen is to maintain a proper balance between the osteoclasts, the cells that reabsorb bone tissue, and osteoblasts, the cells that form new bone tissue.

When estrogen is deficient, this balance is lost and rather than bone formation and resorption occurring constantly, they take place in spurts so that first an area of new bone will be formed, then resorption will occur some weeks later, resulting in a structure where there are cavities between areas of bone. With time, these cavities will increase and weaken the integrity of the bone structure.

However, that is not the whole story. The effect of estrogen is to limit the active period of osteoclasts so that the areas of bone resorbed into the body are relatively small so that the removed bone cavity can easily fill up with new bone by the osteoblasts, which are invigorated by estrogen. When estrogen is deficient, not only is the activity of the bone-forming osteoblasts reduced, but the bone-absorbing osteoclasts activity is not regulated, and they form deeper holes in the bone structure than the osteoblasts are able to fill.

The net result is bone loss, with more bone being reabsorbed than is being formed. The end result of all this is spongy bone tissue with many tiny hole and also with larger areas of missing bone. Eventually this passes a critical point and the bone fractures during normal use. A simple jump from one step to another can fracture a bone at its weakest point, such as at the hip joint where the neck of bone is thinner.

Not everybody is at the same risk, and there are certain risk factors that you should be aware of, each of which could increase the chances of you developing weak bones. The condition particular affects white or Asian women, and those who have a small frame. If you smoke and drink an excessive amount of alcohol, you will also be more prone to osteoporosis, although exercise can help you to avoid it. An inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D will also contribute, and magnesium is an essential part of strong bone development.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has carried out surveys that indicate American women to be taking only 50% of the calcium recommended to maintain a healthy bone density. However, it is not only dietary calcium that is needed for the formation of bone, but also magnesium and boron, and vitamin D also helps with the absorption of calcium in the gut.

If you are on steroids then they can render you more prone to brittle bone disease. Unfortunately the symptoms of osteoporosis do not become evident until there has been a significant amount of bone loss, which is why post menopausal women, and those over 65, should have a bone density scan (DXA test). It is important to understand that osteoporosis is not a disease as such: you cannot ‘catch’ it, but it develops as the result of a gradual reduction in the minerals that maintain the density of your bone structure.

Your diet is important in helping you prevent bone loss and osteoporosis later in life, and your lifestyle is also important. Reducing your daily alcohol intake will certainly help, and cigarette smoking further retards the activity of the bone-creating cells. Calcium and vitamin D supplements will help, but do not restrict yourself only to these.

If you want to maintain proper bone density through and beyond the menopause stage of life, you should take a balanced supplement that contains a combination of vitamins and minerals needed to maintain a healthy balance between natural bone loss and regeneration. There is more to it that only calcium and vitamin D, and a balanced supplement takes this out of your hands. You can rest in the knowledge that you are doing the best for your body and its bone density.

About the Author
More information on Bone Building supplements like bone power from natures plus is available at VitaNet ®, LLC Health Food Store. http://vitanetonline.com/ Source: ArticleTrader.com

Cellulite Laser Treatment - Does it Work?

2008-04-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

by IC

Cellulite is a very common problem among men and women of all ages, the most obvious symptom is the way the skin becomes dimpled around the pelvic region, the lower limbs (specially this part in women), the abdomen, etc. This problem is not new, however the term used to describe this appearance was first used around the 1920's.

Possible Causes:

The factors which trigger cellulite are not clearly understood, however such condition can be related to changes in the metabolism and physiology which in turn my cause or contribute to this condition. Some of the possible causes may be a disorder of the way our body distributes water around our body (also referred to as disorder of water metabolism), unusual hyper-polymerization of the connective tissue and also a venus insufficiency around the area where the problem appears.

How Does It Work?

Cellulite laser treatment is the process which involves physical massage and the exterior influence of a properly calibrated laser which penetrates the skin and softens the subcutaneous fat which allows it to be reshaped, this would normally change the appearance of the area where cellulite appears.

In general, cellulite laser treatments feel like deep tissue massage, however some clients have experienced slight pinching of the skin which is easily corrected by doctor who operates the machine and calibrates the intensity.

After a cellulite later treatment some patients have reported to have slight reddening or even bruising of the areas which were treated after each session, this is nothing to worry about since the marks (if any) will disappear in a few days. While cellulite treatment using laser technology is not a magic bullet it does offer a good solution to patients which suffer with such skin problem, however it is strongly recommended that patients who are subject to those treatments change their diet patterns and keep healthy physical activity.

When it comes to results, patients usually see results after the seventh session when the fat which causes the orange-peel look has been reshaped. After the cellulite treatment is complete patients notice that their skin in soft and no longer has the dimples which made it look bad, this process works so well that patients don't need to attend further therapies to eliminate cellulite because the treatment has reshaped the layers of subcutaneous fat which caused the dimples and they are now smooth.

The process of cellulite elimination through laser technology is still being improved but the results achieved so far are very tangible and patients have experienced no side effects other than occasional skin redness which heal fairly quick.

CelluliteLaserSurgery.com provides more information about cellulite and how it can be corrected with a painless cellulite laser treatment, visit us today to get more information.
Source: ArticleTrader.com

ALIFIA ECLIPPING & REVIEWING [Health]

Fight Osteoporosis With Minerals To Build Bones And Improve Quality Of Life

Cellulite Laser Treatment - Does it Work?