Osteoporosis Quotes

Elsewhere the paper notes that vegetarians and vegans (including athletes) 'meet and exceed requirements' for protein. And, to render the whole we-should-worry-about-getting-enough-protein-and-therefore-eat-meat idea even more useless, other data suggests that excess animal protein intake is linked with osteoporosis, kidney disease, calcium stones in the urinary tract, and some cancers. Despite some persistent confusion, it is clear that vegetarians and vegans tend to have more optimal protein consumption than omnivores.

That’s Manhattan today—all the money goes up top, while the infrastructure wastes away from neglect. The famous skyline is a cheap trick now, a sleight-of-hand to draw your eye from the truth, as illusory as a bodybuilder with osteoporosis.

It's corny, but I think poems are echoes of the voices in your head and from your past. Your sisters, your father, your ancestors taking to you and through you. Some of it is primal, some of it is hallucinatory bullshit. That madness those boys rapping ain't nothing but urban folklore. They retelling stories passed down from chicken coop to apartment stoop to Ford coupe. Hear that rhyme, boy. Shit, I could get down and rap if I had to. MC Big Mama Osteoporosis in the house.

The chowdry, or burqa -- the Saudi, North African, and Central Asian version of the head, face, and body shroud -- is a sensory deprivation isolation chamber. It is claustrophobic, may lead to anxiety and depression, and reinforces a woman's already low self-esteem. It may also lead to vitamin D deficiency diseases such as osteoporosis and heart disease. Sensory deprivation officially constitutes torture and is practiced as such in the world's prisons.

Excessive consumption of the high amounts of sodium in processed, salty foods can lead to high blood pressure and heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, cancer, weight gain, osteoporosis, and overeating—this list is equally long and alarming.2

Now I can see: even the trees are tired: they are bones bent forward in a skin of wind, leaning in osteoporosis, reaching for a little more than any oxygen can give: when living is in season, they can live; but living is no reason to continue: everything begins: and everything is desperate to extend: and everything is insufficient in the end: and everything is ending: Now I can see: even the trees

Brace yourselves, girls: Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body. For starters, soda’s high levels of phosphorous can increase calcium loss from the body, as can its sodium and caffeine. [Cousens, Conscious Eating, 475] You know what this means—bone loss, which may lead to osteoporosis. And the last time we checked, sugar, found in soda by the boatload, does not make you skinny! Now don’t go patting yourself on the back if you drink diet soda. That stuff is even worse. Aspartame (an ingredient commonly found in diet sodas and other sugar-free foods) has been blamed for a slew of scary maladies, like arthritis, birth defects, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer’s, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes.2 When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing). 3 Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. They don’t fucking drink it. Perhaps you have a lumpy ass because you are preserving your fat cells with diet soda. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received more complaints about aspartame than any other ingredient to date.4 Want more bad news? When aspartame is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of serotonin.5 A healthy level of serotonin is needed to be happy and well balanced. So drinking soda can make you fat, sick, and unhappy.

They tell us race is an invention, that there is no genetic variation between two black people than there is between a black person and a white person. Then they tell us black people have a worse kind of breast cancer and get more fibroid. And white folk get cystic fibrosis and osteoporosis. So what’s the deal, is race an invention or not?

but he probably had a bum knee and was only a few years short of osteoporosis.

I’m as swift as a fox. An old one. With osteoporosis. Run over by a 4x4. Ten days ago.

In the United Kingdom, the Osteoporosis Society reports that more women die from hip fractures due to osteoporosis than from cancers of the cervix, uterus, and breast combined.

Regarding US government recommendations that tend to encourage dairy consumption in the name of preventing osteoporosis, Nestle notes that in parts of the world where milk is not a staple of the diet, people often have less osteoporosis and fewer bone fractures than Americans do. The highest rates of osteoporosis are seen in countries where people consume the most dairy foods.

Processed, heated, and refined fats, as well as “trans fats” (hydrogenated fats), are the bad fats commonly found in foods such as margarine, shortening, your average American pizza, and the processed cheese so widely available in grocery stores. These bad fats have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, certain cancers, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, infertility and endometriosis, and depression.3 (For more on fats, see chapter 16.)

the introduction of cereal and grains into the human diet was associated with a dramatic reduction in human height and the first appearance of bone diseases and dental caries. It is diets high in cereals and grains and low in fat-soluble vitamins, especially Vitamin D, which cause osteoporosis

The calcium in vegetable sources may prove more bioavailable (useful to the body) than the stuff you get from milk. One study compared the absorption of calcium from kale and from milk and found kale the clear winner. (Yeah, kale!) Recent studies have shown that plant-sourced calcium in particular increases bone-mineral density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis. This is probably not just due to the calcium content of the plant—the complement of other vitamins (such as vitamin K), minerals, and phytonutrients work synergistically to provide additional benefits to bones. Yet another reason to eat your greens.

Such was the demand for sugar, the price of a sweet tooth was a toothless smile. Such was the demand for coffee, the price of caffeine was addiction, heart palpitations, osteoporosis and general irritability. The price of rum was chronic liver disease, alcoholism and permanent memory loss. The cost of tobacco was cancer, stained teeth and emphysema.

Modern medicine finds that today’s consumers likely ingest too much phosphoric acid, often from soft drinks; if Rowbotham’s miracle cure worked, much of the United States would be experiencing pleasant indestructibility. Unfortunately, you can’t Mountain Dew yourself to eternal life—you can only increase your soda-based risk of osteoporosis, like many modern consumers.

DO YOU HAVE OR HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED IN THE PAST SIX MONTHS . . . — PART A — ■ A feeling you’re constantly racing from one task to the next? ■ Feeling wired yet tired? ■ A struggle calming down before bedtime, or a second wind that keeps you up late? ■ Difficulty falling asleep or disrupted sleep? ■ A feeling of anxiety or nervousness—can’t stop worrying about things beyond your control? ■ A quickness to feel anger or rage—frequent screaming or yelling? ■ Memory lapses or feeling distracted, especially under duress? ■ Sugar cravings (you need “a little something” after each meal, usually of the chocolate variety)? ■ Increased abdominal circumference, greater than 35 inches (the dreaded abdominal fat, or muffin top—not bloating)? ■ Skin conditions such as eczema or thin skin (sometimes physiologically and psychologically)? ■ Bone loss (perhaps your doctor uses scarier terms, such as osteopenia or osteoporosis)? ■ High blood pressure or rapid heartbeat unrelated to those cute red shoes in the store window? ■ High blood sugar (maybe your clinician has mentioned the words prediabetes or even diabetes or insulin resistance)? Shakiness between meals, also known as blood sugar instability? ■ Indigestion, ulcers, or GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease)? ■ More difficulty recovering from physical injury than in the past? ■ Unexplained pink to purple stretch marks on your belly or back? ■ Irregular menstrual cycles? ■ Decreased fertility?

There is a significant body of research that goes beyond telling us that weight does not really matter all that much, to suggest that carrying a few extra pounds, over and above the weights currently being recommended, may actually have health benefits, resulting in reduced risk of many diseases and disorders that affect quality as well as length of life. These diseases include lung cancer, the number-one cause of cancer deaths among men and women, premenopausal breast cancer, and osteoporosis.

The ADA takes a conservative stand, leaving out many well-documented health benefits attributable to reducing the consumption of animal products. Here are the three key sentences from the summary of their summary of the relevant scientific literature. One: Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for all individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes. TWO: Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, and have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, folate, carotenoids, flavonoids, and other phytochemicals. Elsewhere the paper notes that vegetarians and vegans (including athletes) “meet and exceed requirements” for protein. And, to render the whole we-should-worry-about-getting-enough-protein-and-therefore-eat-meat idea even more useless, other data suggests that excess animal protein intake is linked with osteoporosis, kidney disease, calcium stones in the urinary tract, and some cancers.

Elsewhere the paper notes that vegetarians and vegans (including athletes) “meet and exceed requirements” for protein. And, to render the whole we-should-worry-about-getting-enough-protein-and-therefore-eat-meat idea even more useless, other data suggests that excess animal protein intake is linked with osteoporosis, kidney disease, calcium stones in the urinary tract, and some cancers. Despite some persistent confusion, it is clear that vegetarians and vegans tend to have more optimal protein consumption than omnivores.

si la leche fuera tan buena para nuestros huesos, en EEUU, Inglaterra y en los países escandinavos, que es donde mayor cantidad de leche se consume, la tasa de osteoporosis sería casi nula; y en cambio es allí donde la incidencia de osteoporosis es más elevada. La osteoporosis es bastante rara en culturas que se alimentan principalmente de vegetales. Las fuentes de calcio mejor absorbibles provienen de alimentos como la lechuga, el brócoli, las espinacas, la col rizada, y el diente de león, así como los frutos secos y las semillas. Los

It has been found to possess antibiotic, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, expectorant, antifungal, immune-stimulating, antiallergenic, laxative, antianemic, and tonic properties. Because honey increases calcium absorption in the body, it is also recommended for women in menopause to help prevent osteoporosis. In clinical trials, honey has been found to be especially effective in treating stomach ulceration (especially if caused by Helicobacter pylori bacteria), infected wounds, severe skin ulceration, and respiratory illnesses.

Si de los cincuenta a los sesenta años sigues entrenando es porque quieres prolongar tu juventud lo máximo posible. Son otros objetivos, otras metas, pero la práctica deportiva está muy recomendada a esta edad, por no decir que debería ser una obligación. A partir de los sesenta años la práctica del running te ayuda a prevenir el sedentarismo, y es incluso beneficioso para mantener o crear nuevas relaciones sociales. Además, en contra de lo que la mayoría de la gente piensa, previene la osteoporosis. Muchos creen que con una edad avanzada el impacto del running puede hacer mucho daño; sin embargo, es todo lo contrario, tonifica y potencia la musculatura.

Some studies have shown that hypertension occurs less frequently among vegetarians than among nonvegetarians, regardless of body weight or sodium intake. Intake of red meat has been linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer. Vegetarians, including lacto-ovo and vegan, have reduced incidences of diabetes and lower rates of cancer than nonvegetarians, particularly for gastrointestinal cancer.47,48 Vegetarian-style diet patterns are associated with lower all-cause mortality.49 Vegetarian-style eating patterns are being used for the prevention and therapeutic dietary treatment of numerous chronic conditions, including overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease (hyperlipidemia, ischemic heart disease, and hypertension), diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis.50

The recent report that Fosamax causes jawbone deterioration is evidence that this drug, and likely all bisphosphonates, cause brittle bones. Fosamax destroys osteoclasts, the cells that remodel bone (sculpt the bone as new bone forms). Fosamax is therefore supposed to prevent bone breakdown—but the drug companies did not reckon with the bone-remodeling function of the osteoclast. X-rays of bones under the influence of Fosamax may look like they have more calcium but without the remodeling capacity the bones’ internal structure is in disarray, and bones are more brittle, and may actually break more easily. When you read the scientific literature, there is ample evidence that many nutrients, especially magnesium, play a crucial role in bone development. Much animal research, for example, proves that magnesium depletion alters bone and mineral metabolism, which results in bone loss and osteoporosis.

Depletion of Vitamin D Sunscreens prevent the absorption of vitamin D. But all the compounds discussed above, whether in sunscreens or other products, also lower your liver’s ability to convert this critical vitamin to its active form. This prevents the regeneration of new cells in your protective intestinal wall barrier, allowing more lectins and LPSs through, along with other foreign bodies. Men with prostate cancer have very low levels of vitamin D. Despite the fact that my practice is in Southern California, I have found that almost 80 percent of my patients have low levels of vitamin D in their blood. In fact, anyone in my practice with leaky gut or autoimmune diseases has low levels. Lacking sufficient vitamin D, and in the face of repeated assaults on the walls of the intestine and the lack of ongoing repair to keep out lectins and LPSs, the body constantly senses that it is at war. It’s not surprising, then, that most of my overweight and obese patients are also very deficient in vitamin D.20 Such a deficiency also impedes the generation of new bone, setting the stage for the development of osteoporosis. My thin female patients with osteopenia and osteoporosis also have low levels of this critical vitamin when they first come to see me.

Hunter-gatherers who survive childhood typically live to be old: their most common age of death is between sixty-eight and seventy-two, and most become grandparents or even great-grandparents.70 They most likely die from gastrointestinal or respiratory infections, diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis, or from violence and accidents.71 Health surveys also indicate that most of the noninfectious diseases that kill or disable older people in developed nations are rare or unknown among middle-aged and elderly hunter-gatherers.72 These admittedly limited studies have found that hunter-gatherers rarely if ever get type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, osteoporosis, breast cancer, asthma, and liver disease. They also don’t appear to suffer much from gout, myopia, cavities, hearing loss, collapsed arches, and other common ailments. To be sure, hunter-gatherers don’t live in perpetually perfect health, especially since tobacco and alcohol have become increasingly available to them, but the evidence suggests that they are healthy compared to many older Americans today despite never having received any medical care. In short, if you were to compare contemporary health data from people around the world with equivalent data from hunter-gatherers, you would not conclude that rising rates of common mismatch diseases such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes are straightforward, inevitable by-products of economic progress and increased longevity. Moreover,

RESISTANCE TRAINING SHOULD HAVE BEEN INVENTED FOR WOMEN. The fitness industry has been plagued with more myths than ancient Greece. One of the most glaring is that women who weight train will look like Mr. Universe. There are still many women who are sidetracked by this common misperception, thereby avoiding weights altogether and bypassing the opportunity to achieve a beautiful, shapely body. One of the biggest differences between men and women is their hormone levels and how these hormones behave—most specifically, testosterone. Testosterone bulks up muscle mass in most men. Men have significantly higher testosterone levels than women, and therefore increasing muscle mass for men is much easier. The vast majority of women cannot build huge, bulging muscles because they have a tiny fraction of the testosterone found in men. There are so many benefits to resistance training for both men and women, but the some of the benefits are very specific to women’s health. For women, the truth is that resistance training increases your metabolism so that you burn fat more easily (and women tend to carry more body fat than men), you build bone mass and prevent osteoporosis (which affects more women than men), and you balance your hormones (which tend to fluctuate wildly in women as they age). Also, women who do resistance training feel a boost in self-esteem and gain renewed physical and mental strength because of their new sexy shape. Resistance training is a woman’s best friend. I rest my case.

There are two main types of devices: those that deliver whole-body vibration (WBV) and those that deliver low-force or low-intensity vibration (LIV). Two companies make the low-intensity vibration machines: Juvent and Marodyne. Both products are based on Dr. Clinton Rubin’s research. The LIV Tablet and the Juvent both impart what feels like a comfortable hum when you stand on them. By contrast, most WBV machines subject the user to an intense shaking. I worked with a master trainer using one such machine, the Powerplate. There was no question that my muscle tone built up quickly, but I never felt right about the intensity. My concern is that over time older adults could end up with conditions such as detached retinas, eye floaters, or even joint damage. For now I would steer clear of the WBV devices. I own a Juvent.

Restore vitamin D to healthy levels and wonderful things happen: improved mood, clearer thinking, better bone health and protection from osteoporosis, reduced blood sugar and blood pressure, and improved physical performance and protection from dementia and cancer—compounding many of the wonderful effects begun by wheat and grain elimination.

That boy is a fine, fine specimen. Takes good care of himself. My Herb was the same way when we were your age. Balls hung down to his knees by the end, but gravity is a bastard like that. If I didn't have osteoporosis and my vagina wasn't as dry as the desert in the middle of July, I'd take that our for a ride.

In fact, there is much crossover between these categories of research. If we can learn how to counteract the devastating impact of bone loss in microgravity, the solutions may well be applied to osteoporosis and other bone diseases. If we can learn how to keep our hearts healthy in space, that knowledge will be useful for heart health on Earth. The effects of living in space look a lot like those of aging, which affect us all. The lettuce we will grow later in the year is a study for future space travel—astronauts on their way to Mars will have no fresh food but what they can grow—but it is also teaching us more about growing food efficiently on Earth. The closed water system developed for the ISS, where we process our urine into clean water, is crucial for getting to Mars, but it also has promising implications for treating water on Earth, especially in places where clean water is scarce. This overlapping of scientific goals isn’t new—when Captain Cook traveled the Pacific it was for the purpose of exploration, but the scientists traveling with him picked up plants along the way and revolutionized the field of botany. Was the purpose of Cook’s expedition scientific or exploratory? Does it matter, ultimately? It will be remembered for both, and I hope the same is true of my time on the space station.

Z-Score Basics The Z-score, as mentioned earlier, compares your BMD to the average for those of your same gender and age group. Here are a few other basics to keep in mind about Z-scores: Z-scores are used to assess premenopausal women and men under age fifty. A Z-score better than (above) –2.0 is considered normal for one’s age. When a Z-score falls below –2.0, BMD is lower than normal for one’s age. This result should be a flag for further testing to determine if active bone loss is occurring.

Su cuerpo tratará por todos los medios de mantener el pH alcalino de la sangre (pH 7.4) por lo cual, cuando su sangre se ponga un poco más ácida de la cuenta, el cuerpo extraerá calcio de los huesos (el calcio es alcalino) para disolverlo en la sangre y así reducir la acidez. Muchas de las personas que padecen de osteoporosis (pérdida de calcio en los huesos) no se dan cuenta de que lo que pasa es que no toman agua, toman refrescos azucarados, consumen jugos de frutas que le suben la glucosa y hacen mil otras cosas que le mantienen la sangre en exceso ácida, por lo cual sus cuerpos pierden calcio de los huesos.

you got a scan and measured bone density, a number greater than 135 gm/cm2 means your osteoporosis risk is low—

One reason that cells break down bone is that in old age they make less of a protein called TERT. In 2012, researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre coaxed old mice to make extra TERT by giving them an extra copy of the gene. Their osteoporosis reversed, and their bones strengthened. It’s conceivable that doctors could use CRISPR gene therapy to treat people as well. CRISPR molecules would home in on the TERT gene in bone cells and edit it. The gene would behave as it did when the patients were younger, strengthening their bones. But gene therapy for TERT could do a lot of other kinds of good, too. The Spanish researchers who tried it out on mice found that it also reversed aging in their muscles, their brains, and their blood. It extended the life span of old mice by 13 percent. When the scientists treated younger mice with TERT gene therapy, the animals lived 24 percent longer.

These are the risk factors: chronic depression; eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia); family history of a first-degree relative with osteoporosis; in men, delayed puberty, diminished libido, erectile dysfunction, low testosterone; in women, late menarche, loss of or irregular menstrual periods, or early menopause (estrogen deficiency); low body weight (less than 127 pounds); maternal history of hip fracture; personal history of fracture related to mild-to-moderate trauma as an adult; poor health; chronic disease of the kidneys, gastrointestinal system, or lungs; sedentary lifestyle; and unhealthy lifestyle (tobacco smoke, excessive alcohol, or poor eating habits).

Secondary Osteoporosis When bone loss occurs from another disease process or is due to a medication, it’s called secondary osteoporosis. There are many genetic, endocrine, autoimmune, neurological, and allergic disorders that cause bone loss, as well as many medications.

Most fractures result from a fall. Muscular weakness and poor balance can turn an electrical cord or the turned-up edge of a rug into a hazard. That’s why the major benefit of exercise as you age is not to add bone density, but to maintain strength, balance, and coordination, and thus decrease your chance of falling.

The three types of bone resorption tests are: N-telopeptide (NTX). This marker measures the small molecules of bone collagen being excreted through the urine. High levels of NTX are associated with rapid bone resorption and low bone mass in both men and women. By testing every several months, it’s easy to monitor and determine the effectiveness of your nutritional therapy. Substantial drops in NTX indicate a reduction in bone loss and less risk for fracture. C-telopeptide (CTX). This is a similar marker to that of NTX, but CTX measures a different part of the collagen molecule. This marker can be tested from either a urine or blood sample. Deoxypyridinoline (DPD). This marker is tested, like NTX, by using a urine sample. Biological and analytical variability can be a problem with bone resorption markers, but

Conditions such as long-term infection, exposure to toxins, food allergies, vitamin D deficiency, abnormal overgrowth of bacteria within the gut, or even constant emotional stress can create undue pressure on the immune system. As you will read in greater depth in chapter 4, this distress leads to chronic low-level inflammation, a major component of many chronic diseases, including osteoporosis.

Chronic inflammation may not shout out and wave a red flag at you. You may have to learn to recognize its presence. Skin sensitivity, irritability, anger, fatigue, depression, general stiffness, nagging joint pain—these were some of my warnings. Start listening to your own. Don’t just pass them off as an unfortunate part of aging. Chronic low-level inflammation is important to recognize—it is key to understanding bone loss—and there’s a lot you can do to diminish its destructive forces.

basic nutritional recommendations for maintaining bone health, 1,200 mg per day of calcium and 800 IU per day of vitamin

If your density is low, you are at greater risk for breaking a bone. Every bone is vulnerable, but those most commonly fractured are the spinal vertebrae, ribs, forearms, and hip bones.

If you’ve experienced either a loss in height or your upper back has curved forward into a hunched position, then it’s important not only to have a DXA scan, but also to be assessed for spinal compression fractures. These fractures can be silent, often causing no discomfort at all, but identifying them is important.

Depending on the circumstances, your doctor may order either a vertebral fracture assessment (VFA) or a regular X-ray evaluation of your spine. A VFA is a separate test performed by a DXA machine and is often obtained along with your BMD examination. A VFA allows your doctor to look for compression fractures in your spine without subjecting you to spinal X-rays, which have two hundred times the radiation and cost four times as much.

Gluten is associated with cancers of the mouth and throat, esophagus, small intestines, and lymph nodes. It is also associated with type 1 diabetes as well as thyroid disorders, such as Hashimoto’s, the most commonly diagnosed thyroid dysfunction in America. Many patients achieve normalization of their thyroid function only after adopting a gluten-free diet. Gluten sensitivity is also associated with other autoimmune diseases, such as Sjörgens syndrome and dermatitis herpetiformis. Hair loss, or autoimmune alopecia, is another presentation. It is also associated with depression, migraines, arthritis, fatigue, osteoporosis, and anemia, to name a few.

Be Careful of Potentially Unsafe Exercises While it is true that any bone in the body can fracture when exercising due to a fall or some other mishap, some exercises pose a higher risk for people with osteoporosis. As we learned in Chapter 1, fractures of the spine are the most common fractures that people experience, especially as they get older. Therefore, when we engage in controlled exercise poses or routines—for instance, in yoga or strength training—it is vital to protect the spine. Following are some of the exercises that are not recommended for people who have a moderate or high risk for fractures: • forward bending • shoulder stands • twists (rotational moves for the spine) • jackknife (legs bent over the head)

Although the current medical approach to treating osteoporosis is quite often one dimensional—prescribing medication, calcium, and vitamin D supplements—I’ve encouraged you to take the true complexity of bone into account, using an approach that, while it may or may not include medications, always includes proper nutrition; assessment for and resolution of any gastrointestinal dysfunction; hormone balancing if needed; and exercise. I’ve asked you to maintain a healthy skepticism regarding your diagnosis and the recommendations of your doctor( s), doing a good job on your homework before agreeing to any treatment program—and always watching out for treatments (conventional or alternative) that claim to be magic bullets!

grams per square centimeter) • T-score: applied to men and women over the age of fifty and post-menopausal women of any age • PR (peak reference): your percentage compared to the average person of the same sex age twenty-six to twenty-nine • Z-score: age-matched bone density score; used for men under age fifty and premenopausal women under age fifty • AM (age matched): percentage of bone you have compared to a person of the same sex and age

Vertebral Fracture Assessment (VFA) This assessment is not typically ordered unless you have had a fracture or you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis. There are additional pages that are included with the VFA report and you can request a full copy of those pages as well. The most important scan page is the one you see here with the full spine images. The densitometrist will assess the images and check to see if you have any fractures in your spine. More information on this study can be found in Chapter 3.

Or look at some relevant data from two very different peoples: black South Africans and Canadian Inuits. If dairy consumption prevents osteoporosis, the South Africans, who consume little dairy, should have epidemic levels of the disease. Actually, the reverse is true: The prevalence of osteoporosis-related diseases in black South Africans is among the lowest in the world. On the other hand, the Inuit have the highest dietary calcium intake of any people in the world, and they also show the highest osteoporosis rates in the world.

The full-body scan will reveal these: Amount of heart calcium—the best non-invasive measurement of atherosclerosis. Bone density—how far are you from osteoporosis? 
 Colon problems—any early signs of colon cancer. Thoracic or abdominal aneurisms—these can be fatal and ~4% of people over 65 have one. Cancers or pre-cancerous condition in various organs—includes lungs, liver, gall bladder, spleen, kidneys, adrenal glands, etc.

Adult onset diabetes will be reversed and cured. Alzheimer’s will be slowed, and in the early stages even partially reversed. Atherosclerosis will be halted, and slowly reversed. Cancer in principle will be slowed, but if a tumor has resulted, it must be treated. Future cancer risk and risk of recurrence of a treated cancer will both be reduced. Osteoporosis can be stopped and reversed. Loss of stature will, in some cases, reverse also. Osteoarthritis can be reversed in some cases. Aging will noticeably slow.

used for centuries to treat burns and wounds. There are hundreds of studies exploring its benefits: it has been suggested that it can help control diabetes, Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, stress, skin conditions, sexual problems, and scores of other maladies.

Gluten, a major component of wheat, barley, and rye, is a composite of two different proteins, gliadin and glutelin. Gluten is what gives bread its stretchiness and elasticity, qualities most folks enjoy. But gluten also makes some people seriously ill. It is estimated that about 1 percent of the population is gluten intolerant, though most are unaware of it. If gluten-intolerant individuals eat gluten grains, they develop what’s known as celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition in which the gliadin protein in gluten grains generates an antibody-mediated immune-system attack against the intestines, leading to chronic diarrhea, fatigue, stunting of growth, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, anemia, nerve damage, and osteoporosis. Furthermore, those with celiac disease have higher rates of cancer, schizophrenia, and a whole host of autoimmune illnesses (Jackson et al. 2012; Rubio-Tapia and Murray 2010), suggesting that the body’s response to gluten affects more than just the intestines. And, on the flip side, almost every chronic autoimmune disease we know of is associated with a significantly increased risk of celiac disease (Cosnes et al. 2008; Rousset 2004; Rodrigo et al. 2011; Song and Choi 2004).

Los refrescos gaseosos desmineralizan los huesos, provocando osteoporosis y varias enfermedades debidas a la acidificación del organismo. El ingrediente culpable es el ácido fosfórico (E338), un verdadero ladrón de calcio. En estas bebidas se encuentran además otros ingredientes dañinos, sin hablar del azúcar blanco refinado o los colorantes, aromatizantes y edulcorantes sintéticos. Algunos de los aditivos que incluyen son derivados del alquitrán, otro agente cancerígeno. Cuando estas bebidas se toman con la comida, provocan fermentaciones y putrefacciones anormales que interfieren en la correcta asimilación de los nutrientes.

you view the current status of the human body as a whole, many countries, like the United States, now confront a novel paradox. On the one hand, more wealth and impressive advances in health care, sanitation, and education since the Industrial Revolution have dramatically improved billions of people’s health, especially in developed nations. Children born today are far less likely to die from infectious mismatch diseases caused by the Agricultural Revolution and they are much more likely to live longer, grow taller, and be generally healthier than children born in my grandfather’s generation. As a consequence, the world’s population tripled over the course of the twentieth century. But on the other hand, our bodies face new problems that were barely on anyone’s radar screen a few generations ago. People today are much more likely to get sick from new mismatch diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and colon cancer, which were either absent or much less common for most of human evolutionary history, including most of the agricultural era. To understand how and why all this happened—and how to address these new problems—requires considering the industrial era through the lens of evolution. How did the Industrial Revolution along with the growth of capitalism, medical science, and public health affect the way our bodies grow and function? In

In conclusion, human bodies were not engineered like the Brooklyn Bridge but instead evolved to grow by interacting with their environment. Because of millions of generations of natural selection on these interactions, every body needs appropriate, sufficient stresses to tune its capacities. The old adage “no strain, no gain” is profoundly true. Allowing our children to ignore this adage leads to a pernicious feedback loop in which problems like osteoporosis become more prevalent, especially as people live longer. Maybe

3) Third, is the ability to discontinue medications. Most of you will be able to reduce or eliminate your medications for high blood pressure, type II diabetes, arthritis, indigestion, reflux, and constipation, among other things. Imagine the freedom that will come with being healthy without having to depend on pills, without having to worry about paying for them, without being limited by their schedule, and without having to endure their side effects. (Please note you should NOT alter your medication regimens without physician supervision.) 4) Next, is improvement in vigor, vitality, and overall well-being within DAYS of starting the program. You will shed those feelings of fatigue, heaviness, and mental cloudiness and they will be replaced by energy, agility, and clarity. In addition, rather than crashing after a meal, feeling sluggish at best, you will be invigorated. 5) Finally, you can save thousands of dollars per year in food and health care costs. Sound too good to be true? Let’s take a closer look, beginning with research that has shown that adopting healthier eating habits can save you as much as $2000 to $4500 a year.30 Add to that the thousands of dollars per year you can save just by stopping five of the most commonly used medications (for cholesterol, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, reflux, and arthritis). Moreover, many of you have bought into the need for taking supplements to enhance your diets. Unfortunately, not all of these supplements are necessary

Just as welfare was said to "cause poverty," the experts may soon announce that Medicare causes baldness and that Social Security is a risk factor for osteoporosis: the correlations are undeniable.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to invaders. I already discussed this problem and how “leaky gut” will lead to weight gain. It may be more important to note that “leaky gut” will lead to major health issues because it causes chronic inflammation. Cancer, asthma, headaches, allergies, arthritis, auto-immune disorders, heart disease, diabetes, depression, Alzheimer’s, and osteoporosis are all caused by chronic inflammation.

As for osteoporosis, it is caused not so much by calcium deficiency in the diet as it is by dietary factors which leach calcium from bones and teeth, especially sugar. Sugar, meat, refined starch, and alcohol all cause a constant state of acidosis in the bloodstream, and acid blood is known to dissolve calcium from bones. The best way to correct osteoporosis is to consume the non-dairy calcium-rich foods mentioned above, while simultaneously cutting down or eliminating acidifying calcium robbers from the diet. A daily supplement of 3 mg of the mineral boron also seems to help bones assimilate and retain calcium.

With just 30 minutes of physical activity a day you can: Reduce health risks (high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, coronary disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers) Keep off excess weight Ward of viral illnesses Help keep your arteries clear Strengthen your heart

Trading reproduction for repair, the sirtuins order our bodies to “buckle down” in times of stress and protect us against the major diseases of aging: diabetes and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis, even cancer. They mute the chronic, overactive inflammation that drives diseases such as atherosclerosis, metabolic disorders, ulcerative colitis, arthritis, and asthma. They prevent cell death and boost mitochondria, the power packs of the cell. They go to battle with muscle wasting, osteoporosis, and macular degeneration. In studies on mice, activating the sirtuins can improve DNA repair, boost memory, increase exercise endurance, and help the mice stay thin, regardless of what they eat. These are not wild guesses as to their power; scientists have established all of this in peer-reviewed studies published in journals such as Nature, Cell, and Science.

Osteoporosis isn’t a problem that gets a lot of attention, but it is deadly in older women. The weakening of their bones doesn’t only result in cosmetic changes. The fragility means that a fall can be life-threatening.

An excellent book in which this process is extensively researched and clearly detailed is Your Bones: How You Can Prevent Osteoporosis and Have Strong Bones for Life—Naturally, by Lara Pizzorno, the editor and author of numerous natural health publications and books.

As we age, daily hours of minimal physical activity—typically in chairs—render us more vulnerable to a litany of chronic illnesses and disabilities that used to be rare or unknown such as heart disease, hypertension, many cancers, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and Alzheimer’s. It is commonly assumed that these conditions are the inevitable by-products of more of us living to be older. But this is not entirely true. Exercise may not be an elixir, but by stimulating growth, maintenance, and repair, it can reduce our susceptibility to many of these mismatches. In this sense, exercise is medicinal. And unlike other medicines, exercise is free, has no side effects, and is sometimes fun. So to stay healthy and fit, many of us exercise.

[Love Wasn’t as They Said] Love wasn’t as they said… It didn’t last forever as they claimed… It is fleeting moments only recognized By those with sight and insight… And perhaps only captured By those patiently waiting as if to see a lightning in the sky… And, like lightning perhaps, we never know Where love goes after it strikes… And perhaps the only love that lasts Is one that know when to stay and when to walk away… ** Love wasn’t synonymous with honor As they defined honor... It is often the awareness that falls upon us After betraying or letting down the loved ones… Love wasn’t holding hands forever, It is boring afternoons spent together With no words And no activities… It wasn’t lifetime sexual attraction As many claimed… It is the companionship that remains After the hormonal fires are put out, When the noises of immaturity go silent, And after the childish quarrels and squabbles stop… It is the home that remains erected Long after getting erectile dysfunction… It that appetite for life after the last egg from the last period… It is that strange feeling of elation That may come after what is mistakenly called a “midlife crisis”, To fill that frightening gap between hope and reality… ** Love a widow brushing her hair, On a bus or in a public place, Unbothered by onlookers or passersby, As she opens her shabby handbag And takes out an apple to bite on With the teeth she has left… Love is an eye surrounded with wrinkles But is finally able to see the world Sensitively, insightfully, and more realistically, Without exaggerated embellishment or distortion… ** Love is shreds of joy Interspersed with long intervals Of boredom, exhaustion, reproach, and disappointment… It’s not measured with red flowers, bears, and expensive gifts in shiny wraps, It is who remains when the glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are high… It’s those who stay after the heart catheterization and knee replacement surgeries… Love gets stronger after getting osteoporosis And may move mountains despite the rheumatism… ** Love is the few seconds when our eyes cross with strangers Who awaken in us feelings we hadn’t experienced with those living with us in years… Or perhaps it’s rubbing arms and shoulders with a passenger On a bus, in a train, or on a plane… It is that fleeting look from a passerby in the street Convey to us that they, too, have understood the game, But there’s not much they can do about it… ** Love wasn’t as they said It wasn’t as they said… It is not 1+1=2… It is sometimes three or more… At other times, it grows at point zero or lower, In solitude, in loneliness, and in seclusion… Isn’t it time, I wonder, to demolish everything falsely, unfairly, and misleadingly attributed to love? Or is it that love burns and dies Precisely when we try to capture it in our hands? [Original poem published in Arabic on October 27, 2022 at ahewar.org]

[Love Wasn’t as They Said] Love wasn’t as they said… It didn’t last forever as they claimed… It is fleeting moments only recognized By those with sight and insight… And perhaps only captured By those patiently waiting as if to see a lightning in the sky… And, like lightning perhaps, we never know Where love goes after it strikes… And perhaps the only love that lasts Is one that know when to stay and when to walk away… ** Love wasn’t synonymous with honor As they defined honor... It is often the awareness that falls upon us After betraying or letting down the loved ones… Love wasn’t holding hands forever, It is boring afternoons spent together With no words And no activities… It wasn’t lifetime sexual attraction As many claimed… It is the companionship that remains After the hormonal fires are put out, When the noises of immaturity go silent, And after the childish quarrels and squabbles stop… It is the home that remains erected Long after getting erectile dysfunction… It that appetite for life after the last egg from the last period… It is that strange feeling of elation That may come after what is mistakenly called a “midlife crisis”, To fill that frightening gap between hope and reality… ** Love is a widow brushing her hair, On a bus or in a public place, Unbothered by onlookers or passersby, As she opens her shabby handbag And takes out an apple to bite on With the teeth she has left… Love is an eye surrounded with wrinkles But is finally able to see the world Sensitively, insightfully, and more realistically, Without exaggerated embellishment or distortion… ** Love is shreds of joy Interspersed with long intervals Of boredom, exhaustion, reproach, and disappointment… It’s not measured with red flowers, bears, and expensive gifts in shiny wraps, It is who remains when the glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are high… It’s those who stay after the heart catheterization and knee replacement surgeries… Love gets stronger after getting osteoporosis And may move mountains despite the rheumatism… ** Love is the few seconds when our eyes cross with strangers Who awaken in us feelings we hadn’t experienced with those living with us in years… Or perhaps it’s rubbing arms and shoulders with a passenger On a bus, in a train, or on a plane… It is that fleeting look from a passerby in the street Convey to us that they, too, have understood the game, But there’s not much they can do about it… ** Love wasn’t as they said It wasn’t as they said… It is not 1+1=2… It is sometimes three or more… At other times, it grows at point zero or lower, In solitude, in loneliness, and in seclusion… Isn’t it time, I wonder, to demolish everything falsely, unfairly, and misleadingly attributed to love? Or is it that love burns and dies Precisely when we try to capture it in our hands? [Original poem published in Arabic on October 27, 2022 at ahewar.org]

Instead, excess protein is physiologically converted to an inefficient energy source or alternatively stored as fat. And concerning everyone, copious studies have established beyond doubt that over the long term, excess protein intake from animal-based sources can be harmful, significantly contributing to the onset of a variety of congenital diseases such as osteoporosis, cancer, impaired kidney function, and heart disease.

The foods we eat, the air we breathe, the toxins we absorb through our skin, and the stress we manage all factor into our body’s pH. And although there’s a consensus among nutritionists and medical experts well versed in these matters that somewhere in the range of 80 percent of the foods we ingest should be alkaline-forming and 20 percent acidic, the typical American diet—combined with our fast-paced, stress-inducing urban lifestyle—is overwhelmingly acid-forming. Processed foods, sodas, meat and dairy proteins, polluted air, and simple life pressures all contribute to what is called “metabolic acidosis,” or a chronic state of body acidity. Why is this important? When the body is in a protracted or chronic state of even low-grade acidosis, which most people’s bodies these days are, it must marshal copious resources to maintain blood pH somewhere in the optimal 7.35 orbit. Over time, the body pays a significant tax that manifests in a susceptibility to any array of infirmities: fatigue; impaired sleep and immune system functionality; a decrease in cellular energy output, nutrient absorption, bone density, and growth hormone levels, which over time lead to a reduction in muscle mass; an increase in inflammation and weight gain, leading to obesity; the promotion of kidney disorders, tumor cell growth, mood swings, and osteoporosis. And I haven’t included in that list a variety of bacterial and viral maladies that flourish in the acidic environment.

Imagine if there was an intervention that didn’t just reduce your risk of the leading killers but also arthritis, dementia, osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease, and sensory impairments. Because such risks tend to double every seven years, even just slowing aging, such that the average sixty-five-year-old, for example, would have the health profile and disease risk of today’s fifty-eight-year-old, would be expected to cut in half everyone’s risk of death, frailty, and disability.55 This is why I wrote How Not to Age.

They have also evolved to require a molecule called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD. As we will see later, the loss of NAD as we age, and the resulting decline in sirtuin activity, is thought to be a primary reason our bodies develop diseases when we are old but not when we are young. Trading reproduction for repair, the sirtuins order our bodies to “buckle down” in times of stress and protect us against the major diseases of aging: diabetes and heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis, even cancer. They mute the chronic, overactive inflammation that drives diseases such as atherosclerosis, metabolic disorders, ulcerative colitis, arthritis, and asthma. They prevent cell death and boost mitochondria, the power packs of the cell. They go to battle with muscle wasting, osteoporosis, and macular degeneration. In studies on mice, activating the sirtuins can improve DNA repair, boost memory, increase exercise endurance, and help the mice stay thin, regardless of what they eat. These are not wild guesses as to their power; scientists have established all of this in peer-reviewed studies published in journals such as Nature, Cell, and Science.

following benefits: It strengthens the immune system. It contains an element that protects against cancer. It promotes the natural production of insulin. It slows the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It helps prevent osteoporosis and fight heart disease. For all these reasons, melatonin is a great ally in preserving youth.

Magnesium’s role in bone health is multifaceted. • Adequate levels of magnesium are essential for the absorption and metabolism of calcium. • Magnesium stimulates a particular hormone, calcitonin, that helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues back into the bones, preventing some forms of arthritis and kidney stones. • Magnesium suppresses another bone hormone called parathyroid, preventing it from breaking down bone. • Magnesium converts vitamin D into its active form so that it can help calcium absorption. • Magnesium is required to activate an enzyme that is necessary to form new bone. • Magnesium regulates active calcium transport. With all these roles for magnesium to play, it is no wonder that even a mild deficiency can be a risk factor for osteoporosis. Further, if there is too much calcium in the body, especially from calcium supplementation, as in Muriel’s case, magnesium absorption can be greatly impaired, resulting in worsening osteoporosis and the likelihood of kidney stones, arthritis, and heart disease. A chance meeting in a hotel with a woman whose lymphoma worsened immediately after being prescribed 2,500 mg of calcium, but no magnesium, for her osteoporosis made me consider that excess calcium can also deposit in cancerous tumors. Other factors that are important in the development of osteoporosis include diet, drugs, endocrine imbalance, allergies, vitamin D deficiency, and lack of exercise. A detailed review of the osteoporosis literature shows that chronically low intake of magnesium, vitamin D, boron, and vitamins K, B12, B6, and folic acid leads to osteoporosis.

Diffuse musculoskeletal pain, muscle weakness, and even osteoporosis may be the only symptoms of wheat allergies (gluten) and are completely relieved or reversed on a gluten free diet” (Kozanoglu et al. 2005).

Hip fractures and osteoporosis are more frequent in populations in which dairy products are commonly consumed and calcium intakes are commonly high.

Todas las enfermedades causadas por nuestro estilo de vida —la diabetes, la obesidad, las enfermedades cardíacas, muchos tipos de Alzheimer y de cáncer, y casi todas las osteoporosis— son una forma de descomposición. La naturaleza no nos reservaba ninguna de estas cosas. Salimos y las compramos».

what we know about magnesium and your bones, however I should also point out that maintaining appropriate levels of magnesium is one of the most important factors (alongside vitamin D and vitamin K levels) for preventing osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

There’s no credible evidence from any long-term study showing that low-carbohydrate diets work for good health. In fact, just about every study shows that long-term carbohydrate restriction is associated with serious complications, from cancer, increased serum cholesterol, osteoporosis, kidney stone formation, and even sudden death.63

La mayor herejía de los nutricionistas es recomendar la leche y sus derivados como fuentes de calcio, cuando todos ellos poseen un pH ácido y corrosivo que es el culpable de la artritis y la osteoporosis que martirizan a gran parte de los mayores de cincuenta años.

Epidemiologic studies have linked osteoporosis not to low calcium intake but to various nutritional factors that cause excessive calcium loss in the urine. The

Space osteoporosis may result from unnatural currents induced in bone by a spacecraft's rapid motion through the earth's magnetic field, with a polarity reversal every half orbit, or it may be a direct effect of the field reversal. This abnormality, which may change the activity of bone cells directly, would be superimposed on abnormal responses of bone's natural electrical system, which is almost certainly affected by weightlessness. The unfamiliar external field reversals could also weaken the copper pegs, at the same time that the bones are in a constant state of "rebound" from their earthly weight-induced potentials, producing a signal that says, "No weight, no bones needed." We know that the more even distribution of blood caused by weightlessness registers in the heart as an excess; as a result, fluid and ions, including calcium, are withdrawn from that blood.

one predicts many mismatch diseases to occur when growing bodies fail to experience as much stress as natural selection geared them to expect. Some of these mismatches manifest themselves early in development, but others, such as osteoporosis, do not begin to cause troubles until old age. To be sure, osteoporosis and other age-related illnesses are more common because humans are now living to be older, but the evidence suggests that such diseases are preventable and hardly inevitable. Brittle

Of the various factors that make osteoporosis a modern mismatch disease, one of the biggest is physical activity, whose beneficial effects on bone health are difficult to exaggerate. First, because the skeleton mostly forms before one’s early twenties, lots of weight-bearing activity during youth—especially during puberty—leads to greater peak bone mass. As figure 26 graphs, people who are sedentary when they are young commence middle age with considerably less bone than those who were more active. Physical activity also continues to affect bone health as people age. Dozens of studies prove that high levels of weight-bearing activity considerably slow and sometimes even halt or modestly reverse the rate of bone loss in older individuals.

Beyond physical activity and estrogen, the other major factor that increases the risk of osteoporosis is diet, especially calcium. A body needs abundant calcium to function properly, and one of bone’s many jobs is to serve as a reservoir of this vital mineral. If calcium levels in the blood drop too much because of insufficient calcium from food, hormones stimulate osteoclasts to resorb bone, restoring calcium balance. This response, however, weakens bones if the tissue is not replaced. Consequently, both animals and people whose diets are permanently deficient in calcium develop flimsy bones, and they lose bone more rapidly as they age. Modern grain-based diets, moreover, tend to be woefully deficient in calcium—between two and five times lower than typical hunter-gatherer diets, and only a minority of adult Americans eat sufficient calcium.16 This problem, moreover, is often exacerbated by low levels of vitamin D, which helps the gut absorb calcium, and by low levels of dietary protein, which is also necessary to synthesize bone.

La resistencia a la insulina también consume el calcio de los huesos, ya que intenta obtener azúcar de ellos cuando la glucosa no está disponible en los otros tejidos. Otra razón por la que las altas concentraciones de insulina producen osteoporosis es que la insulina hace que el calcio sea excretado en la orina. En resumen, una clave para evitar el envejecimiento y revertir el SDDC consiste en disminuir la secreción excesiva de insulina, provocada principalmente por un alto consumo de carbohidratos. Esto ayuda a reducir la resistencia a la insulina, provocada por esta hormona. Paradójicamente, la resistencia a la insulina produce una mayor secreción de insulina, incrementando así el ritmo del envejecimiento, del cual la prediabetes y la diabetes son síntomas.

Brain and mood disorders, migraines, osteoporosis, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, bowel diseases, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders, and cancer are rampant. Grains are rarely suspected as the original culprit, though every one of these disorders, among many more, can potentially be traced to often insidious gluten intolerance. Gluten sensitivity is only rarely obvious to the afflicted, and many people are even entirely surprised to learn they have this sensitivity. I know I was. Only an estimated 1 percent of all gluten sensitivity or celiac disease is ever diagnosed.

fully fifty-five diseases are known to be caused by gluten (Farrell and Kelly 2002). Among these are heart disease, cancer, nearly all autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders, gallbladder disease, Hashimoto’s disease (an autoimmune thyroid disorder responsible for up to 90 percent of all low-functioning thyroid issues), migraines, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), neuropathies (having normal EMG readings), and most other degenerative neurological disorders as well as autism, which is technically an autoimmune brain disorder.

They never had cavities. Osteoporosis was unknown. The men had strong and powerful erections and the women gave birth painlessly by squatting, slinging the baby over their back, and then resuming carrying a moose or elk for several miles.

most processed water and food contain large amounts of fluoride which can lead to fluorosis.  Even foods made with mechanically deboned meat (e.g nuggets) contain elevated levels of fluoride due to the contamination from bone particles that occurs during the mechanical deboning process. Fluorosis is a condition that affects the teeth and bones. It is caused by overexposure to fluoride. Fluorosis can cause osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis. Fluoride may also damage connective tissue, brain, and testicles. Also be careful from drinking water containing extra fluoride.

used primarily to slow osseous involvement of a number of cancers (multiple myeloma and metastatic breast or prostate carcinoma), to treat Paget’s disease (see page 623), and to reverse osteoporosis.

Estradiol—Estradiol is the strongest estrogen; it helps you think clearly. It is produced in the ovaries and has many protective effects, including maintaining bone density, improving growth hormone production and cardiovascular function, keeping your blood from getting “sticky,” supporting cognitive function and mood, assisting in growth hormone release, and improving your lipids profile. Too much estradiol can be associated with estrogen-related cancers, but deficiencies can lead to osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, and other diseases of aging. Estradiol keeps you looking and feeling young and vibrant. It also provides antiaging protection for the skin. And it even helps prevent weight gain. Researchers at Yale University have found that estradiol suppresses appetite using the same pathways in the brain as leptin, which is one of the hormones that regulate appetite.

Almost every major infectious epidemic, such as smallpox, polio, and the plague, happened after the Agricultural Revolution began. In addition, studies of recent hunter-gatherers show that although they don’t enjoy surpluses of food, they rarely suffer from famines or serious malnutrition. Modern lifestyles have also fostered new noncommunicable but widespread illnesses such as heart disease, certain cancers, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s, as well as scores of other lesser ailments, such as cavities and chronic constipation. There is good reason to believe that modern environments contribute to a sizeable percentage of mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depressive disorders.2 The

With modern Western diets, the body must work hard to keep the blood from becoming overly acidic from the excess animal protein being eaten. To do this, it uses alkaline bone tissue substances such as bicarbonates and calcium. This can lead to the loss of bone density and helps explain the high rates of osteoporosis in cultures where people eat large quantities of acidifying animal foods. Osteoporosis rates among the Eskimo people, who eat an almost completely flesh-based diet, are among the highest in the world.18 Next are northern Europeans and North Americans, who eat high quantities of flesh, eggs, and dairy products.19 While there are other factors that may affect bone health, such as vitamin and mineral intake, levels of loadbearing exercise, and mental and emotional factors, there is evidence that brittle bones and osteoporosis are correlated with eating the large amounts of animal protein typical of our meals.

Although protein deficiency is widespread in poverty-stricken communities and in some nonindustrialized countries, most people in industrialized countries face the opposite problem—protein excess. The RDA for a 70-kilogram (154-pound) person is 56 grams; however, the average American man consumes approximately 100 grams of protein daily, and the average woman about 70 grams. Many meat-loving Americans eat far more protein. Some research suggests that high protein intake contributes to risk for heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. However, because high protein intake often goes hand-in-hand with high intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol, the independent effects of high protein intake are difficult to determine.

Women are four times as likely to develop osteoporosis as men. The primary reason for this discrepancy is the loss of estrogen in menopause, which is considered the most common cause of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis happens because the process of bone remodeling, which is like a continuous renovation of your bones, gets out of balance. Normally, your body removes old, weak bone tissue and replaces it with fresh, strong bone. But in menopause, because of estrogen deprivation and potentially a decline in testosterone levels, this remodeling process is disrupted, and more old bone is taken away than new bone is built. This makes your bones weak and more likely to break, which is why osteoporosis is often called “brittle bone disease.

Plant proteins are not only free of animal fat and cholesterol; they are also free of two problems caused by animal proteins. First, animal protein is linked to osteoporosis, apparently because it causes the kidneys to lose calcium in the urine. If you were to check urine samples from people following meaty diets—especially high-protein Atkins-style diets—you would find that they lose calcium rapidly.3 Sodium does the same thing, as we’ll see below. Second, animal protein is also linked to gradual loss of kidney function. Harvard researchers studied a group of women who had already lost some kidney function, as many people do, due to high blood pressure, diabetes, urinary infections, or other factors. As the years went by, the researchers found that those women who tended to get their protein from animal products were much more likely to experience continued loss of kidney function.4 Protein from plants did not have this effect. So if you get your protein from beans, grains, vegetables, and other foods from plant sources, your kidneys will breathe a sigh of relief.