This month you will find 3 MORE topics AND some notes

1. NUTRITION

2. MORE ABOUT BISPHOSPHONATES

3. MORE ABOUT STRESS AND OSTEOPOROSIS

4. END OF YEAR ANNOUNCEMENTS, NOTES

1. MORE ABOUT NUTRITION. Every study about Osteopenia and Osteoporosis seems to include Vitamin D and calcium guidelines but recently micro nutrients are getting more attention.

A recent report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition states that a daily "diet that includes 5 servings a day of fruits and vegetables should optimize the intake of micro nutrients required for bone health."

Of course those guidelines presuppose that your fruits and vegetables were grown in soils that contain the necessary trace minerals - something that may not be true on many farms. Example: If the soil or hydroponic base contains little or no boron, you are not likely to find the trace mineral boron in your vegetables.

The good news is that if you buy local produce, your state or province agriculture department is likely to be able to tell you about the mineral content of local soils.

2.MORE STUDIES OF BISPHOSPHONATES. Osteoporosis International (October 2008) reviewed occasions of 'non-union fractures in older adults". This is when a broken bone does not knit. They found that although "nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates have been shown to reduce fracture risk in postmenopausal women and men, their safety in the period after a fracture is unclear."

The study concluded that "Bisphosphonate use after the fracture was associated with an approximate doubling of the risk of non-union". If you take bisphosphonates (Fosamax, Actonel, Boniva etc) DO ASK your health care provider whether you should continue doing so in the weeks after any fracture.

3. MORE ABOUT STRESS AND BONE LOSS. Almost every country in the world is in the midst of an economic downturn. People are losing jobs. The value of retirement investments has plummeted. People are losing their home. AND prices are rising. Research shows the money worries are a major cause of STRESS and we know that stress is a cause of bone loss.

This is not a new topic but I hope it will be timely. Here are a few things to remember:

1. Stress in itself is not bad. Chronic stress is. It floods your body with too much cortisol and cortisol causes both bone loss and memory loss.

2. When worried about money, we tend to go over and over the same stressful thoughts. "What am I going to do? Where will I find the money to pay the mortgage? How will I get a new job in this economy" It is this repetition of worrying thoughts that floods your body with Cortisol.

3. Remedies. Create a plan. Decide a time of day when you WILL worry. Set aside a half hour. Then every time you catch yourself worrying during the day, say NO. I will worry about that at X o'clock my worry time. AND have something ready to immediately replace the worrisome thought eg. a song you will sing, some good memories from the past, saying the alphabet backwards etc.

Then at the appropriate 'worry time' sit down with a clock in front of you. Remember all the things you were going to worry about today and do so for the next 20 minutes or half hour. Sound silly? It works. People who do this do not produce excess 'worry cortisol'.

4. During hard economic times do some stress reducing physical practices EVERY day. Some of you do Tai Chi, or sing. Others engage in aerobic activity eg. walking, jogging etc. This is important during hard economic times.

5. Finally, here is a practice from China that is both stress reducing and health promoting. You can do it almost any time or any place - though I would not do this in the midst of a business meeting or holiday party.

The key to the practice is the sound of the letter H with an appropriate vowel. Say the following: Hee, Heh, Hah, Ho,[like NO but with an H instead of an N], Hu [ the U is sounded as in who].

Now say them again and let the H sound really move a burst of air out. Hee, Heh, Hah, Ho, Hu.

OK...now you will repeat it 8 - 10 times. And as you say them see if you can feel where the sound vibrates in your body - from your head on down to your belly. Try it now. It will only take a minute.

Finished? How do you feel?

Most people find this is a great stress buster. And this practice comes from a tradition that says the sound 'massages' important energy centers and helps to bring us to balance.

If you are concerned about your economics, you will want to build in some additional daily stress reducing practices so you do not allow stress to undo all the good work you have been doing to build bone.

SO HERE IS A CHALLENGE. I suggest that each of us decide right now on what sorts of things we will do - will you set a daily 'worry time'? will you do the Hee, heh, ha routine EVERY time you catch yourself worrying about the same thing for a second or third time during the day? Will you do something else?

AFTER at least 3 WEEKS (3rd week of December) if you have found that YOUR destressing program has worked, send me a SHORT email [ no more than 6-9 lines} about what you did and how it worked. I'll publish a few of these either on the web site or in a newsletter.

END OF YEAR ANNOUNCEMENTS.

1. Special thanks to those of you who come back to the web site (Osteopenia products page) to order or reorder things. As you know I am very careful about which companies I list. I do get a small % of sales made from those links. eg. Amazon gives 4% of sales.

I know that some companies try to get you to place your repeat order from their sites directly or through their newsletters so they do not have to pay a commission. But....

2. As 2008 draws to a close I want to thank each of you for visiting www.osteopenia3.com and for sharing the site with family and friends. It is a privilege to be able to share so much research with you and a joy to know that there are so many of us who are 'taking hold' of our bone density practices.

3. Special thanks to those who have sent corrections for typos, references to other scientific studies etc. during the last year.

Until 2009!

Kate