February already! A change of season is almost upon us. It's a good time to get remotivated for building strong bones.

There are so many pages to the site that some readers are finding it difficult to find specific information. I want this site to be as useful as possible. So this month I am adding a Google 'site specific' search engine.

Please try it out. Let me know if I should keep it on the site. (Use the opinion poll box on the SEARCH page.)

This month's OSTEOPENIA NEWSLETTER is all about research results.

1. Black Raspberries.

2. High fat diet and your bones

3. A diabetes drug

4. Royal Jelly for bones?

5. Pain relief for your bones

1. New Research out of Seoul, Korea. Researchers found that rubus coronus, a rambling raspberry grown in Korea appears to have a bone-protecting effect in cases caused by estrogen deficiency (postmenopausal) without undesirable side effects on the uterus and other solid organs".

Note: Rubus Coronus's popular name is Bokbunja. Bokboonja,a Black Raspberry and it is used in Korea for making a special wine and a tea....and some health food stores sell that tea.

Note the leaves of other black raspberry plants have shown positive health benefits -though I do not know of research related to bones on these other kinds.

2. Diets high in fat. An interesting study of high fat diets in growing rats was published by some French researchers. (As you know much of the experimental research related to bone density is done on mice and rats before anyone would use human subjects.) The researchers found that high fat diet had a negative effect on bone density in growing rats.

I know that most of the readers of this newsletter are long past their 'growing years'. But I wonder how high fat diets affect our bones. (I am looking for some studies. If I find them, I shall post them here.)

And even more important is how the high fat diet followed by most young people will affect their bone health in the future. We already know that childhood obesity is giving many children and Teens ADULT ONSET DIABETES....a serious disease that can lead to cardio problems, neuropathy, blindness and even amputation. Many researchers are now saying that for the first time, the next generation will be sicker and have a shorteer life expectancy than those in the current adult population.

The reason? High fat diet. Can you help your grandchildren or great grandchildren? This recession might help since more people are eating at home. But they need to know how to prepare meals with more fruits and vegetables.

3. More on Diabetes and bones.

Researches at the University of Arkansas published a paper in Endocrinology. They said that Rosiglitazone, a FDA-approved oral anti diabetic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes showed a decrease in bone formation rate, with a simultaneous increase in fat content in the bone marrow.

The paper concluded that this drug may post a significant adverse risk to the human skeleton. If you are on Rosiglitazone, do talk with your health care provider about this. Note: Do not just stop a medication on your own...consult with your health care provider first.

4. ROYAL JELLY. (Royal jelly is a honey bee secretion that is used in the nutrition of the larvae of a colony.) Researchers in Japan published a study titled: Royal Jelly Prevents Osteoporosis in Rats: Beneficial Effects in Ovariectomy Model and in Bone Tissue Culture Model

The reason for their study was "Royal jelly (RJ) has been used worldwide for many years as medical products, health foods and cosmetics. Since RJ contains testosterone and has steroid hormone-type activities, we hypothesized that it may have beneficial effects on osteoporosis."

And they found that it did. They concluded that "These results indicate that both RJ and pRJ are almost as effective as 17ß-estradiol (a sex horomne) in preventing the development of bone loss induced by ovariectomy in rats." And they said " our results suggest that both RJ and pRJ may prevent osteoporosis by enhancing intestinal calcium absorption, but not by directly antagonizing the action of PTH."

5. Pain creates stress and stress is not good for our bones. Also many pain medications interfere with bone building. Do consider reading: THE PAIN CURE by Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.

I do not usually recommend books but this is different. I have used this author's earlier work and found it most helpful.

Dr. Dharma Singh Khalsa is a pioneer in pain cures for arthritis, migraine, fibromylagia, IBS pain, back pain, cancer pain as well as a host of other types of pain. He has shown thousands of suffers to reverse and cure their pain. His program is especially effective for those who have been in pain for at least 4 months. If you live with chronic or severe pain, you may find this the most helpful book you will ever find.

That is it for this month.

Be well. Keep active.

Try to eat more plant products.

Oh, yes, in this past month I have gotten notes from a number of readers who unsubscribed from this Newsletter because THEY HAVE REVERSED THEIR BONE LOSS and no longer need it.

Way to go!

Kate