Protect Your Bones - Balance Body's Acids
Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter (Your Guide to Living Healthier Longer) March 2009, Volume 27, Number 1 addresses the connection between healthy eating, the body’s acids and protecting your bones.
If we are to improve the health of Americans we will have to find a better way than pills. Here’s another reason to shop the produce aisle: Fruits and vegetables may protect your bones by balancing an excess of acid in your body, a common condition as you age. In a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Tufts researchers report that bicarbonate supplements reduced the bone resorption and calcium excretion that occur when the acid/base (alkaline) balance of the body is tilted to the acidic. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables would have the same effect, explained Bess Dawson-Hughes, MD, director of the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts’ Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.
"When fruits and vegetables are metabolized they add bicarbonate, an alkaline compound to the body," said Dr. Dawson-Hughes. "Our study found that bicarbonate had a favorable effect on bone resorption and calcium excretion. This suggests that increasing the alkali content of the diet may attenuate bone loss in healthy older adults.
"When it comes to dietary concerns regarding bone health, calcium and vitamin D have received the most attention," she added, "but there is increasing evidence that the acid/base balance of the diet is also important."
Diets high in protein and cereal grains can cause an excess of acid in the body, produced by dietary metabolism. As people age, they typically become less able to excrete this acid, leading to an acidic buildup.
In the past such a condition resulted in the physician prescribing Nexium, Prolosec or Prevacid (these "proton pump inhibitors" can cause the brain to produce even more acid - resulting in activating cancer cells on the esophagus or pancreas). This was the old world approach to symptomatic medical practice. Integrative medicine is fast becoming the wave of the future in medicine.
The body responds to the acidic buildup by breaking down bone–a process called resorption–to release minerals such as calcium and phosphates along with alkaline salts. This loses calcium through excretion and weakens the bones, increasing fracture risk. One of the worst things that can happen to senior citizens is a fall resulting in brittle bones breaking and the inactivity that can affect poor circulation and blood clots causing stroke.
To test whether adding alkaline compounds could counter this problem, Dr. Dawson–Hughes and colleagues at Tufts and Northeastern University compared the effects of different supplements on 171 women, age 50 and older. The women were randomly assigned to receive a supplement of potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride or a placebo for three months.
Those taking either supplement containing bicarbonate–an alkaline–showed significant reductions in calcium excretion, indicating a reduction in bone resorption. Testing potassium chloride enabled the researchers to determine whether the benefit was due to the bicarbonate or to added potassium; neither the potassium chloride group nor the placebo group, however, saw a significant improvement in calcium excretion.
The researchers conceded that adding enough fruits and vegetables to the diet to balance the body’s acid/base composition might not be easy for everyone. "Achieving alkali–producing diets would require drastic changes in food choices and be challenging in older people who tent to have long established dietary patterns, "Dr. Dawson-Hughes and colleagues wrote. "Should it be shown to be beneficial, an alternative approach may be to administer bicarbonate in supplement form or to lower the acid producing capacity of selected foods through alkali fortification."
Bone health is becoming a growing concern as the population ages. For women, the lifetime risk of an osteoporosis related bone fracture is 30% to 40%. Although men are at lesser risk (about 13% over a man’s lifetime) they need to b aware of bone health as well–making an extra stop at the produce aisle.
TO LEARN MORE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, January 2009
If we are to improve the health of Americans we will have to find a better way than pills. Here’s another reason to shop the produce aisle: Fruits and vegetables may protect your bones by balancing an excess of acid in your body, a common condition as you age. In a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Tufts researchers report that bicarbonate supplements reduced the bone resorption and calcium excretion that occur when the acid/base (alkaline) balance of the body is tilted to the acidic. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables would have the same effect, explained Bess Dawson-Hughes, MD, director of the Bone Metabolism Laboratory at Tufts’ Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging.
"When fruits and vegetables are metabolized they add bicarbonate, an alkaline compound to the body," said Dr. Dawson-Hughes. "Our study found that bicarbonate had a favorable effect on bone resorption and calcium excretion. This suggests that increasing the alkali content of the diet may attenuate bone loss in healthy older adults.
"When it comes to dietary concerns regarding bone health, calcium and vitamin D have received the most attention," she added, "but there is increasing evidence that the acid/base balance of the diet is also important."
Diets high in protein and cereal grains can cause an excess of acid in the body, produced by dietary metabolism. As people age, they typically become less able to excrete this acid, leading to an acidic buildup.
In the past such a condition resulted in the physician prescribing Nexium, Prolosec or Prevacid (these "proton pump inhibitors" can cause the brain to produce even more acid - resulting in activating cancer cells on the esophagus or pancreas). This was the old world approach to symptomatic medical practice. Integrative medicine is fast becoming the wave of the future in medicine.
The body responds to the acidic buildup by breaking down bone–a process called resorption–to release minerals such as calcium and phosphates along with alkaline salts. This loses calcium through excretion and weakens the bones, increasing fracture risk. One of the worst things that can happen to senior citizens is a fall resulting in brittle bones breaking and the inactivity that can affect poor circulation and blood clots causing stroke.
To test whether adding alkaline compounds could counter this problem, Dr. Dawson–Hughes and colleagues at Tufts and Northeastern University compared the effects of different supplements on 171 women, age 50 and older. The women were randomly assigned to receive a supplement of potassium bicarbonate, sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride or a placebo for three months.
Those taking either supplement containing bicarbonate–an alkaline–showed significant reductions in calcium excretion, indicating a reduction in bone resorption. Testing potassium chloride enabled the researchers to determine whether the benefit was due to the bicarbonate or to added potassium; neither the potassium chloride group nor the placebo group, however, saw a significant improvement in calcium excretion.
The researchers conceded that adding enough fruits and vegetables to the diet to balance the body’s acid/base composition might not be easy for everyone. "Achieving alkali–producing diets would require drastic changes in food choices and be challenging in older people who tent to have long established dietary patterns, "Dr. Dawson-Hughes and colleagues wrote. "Should it be shown to be beneficial, an alternative approach may be to administer bicarbonate in supplement form or to lower the acid producing capacity of selected foods through alkali fortification."
Bone health is becoming a growing concern as the population ages. For women, the lifetime risk of an osteoporosis related bone fracture is 30% to 40%. Although men are at lesser risk (about 13% over a man’s lifetime) they need to b aware of bone health as well–making an extra stop at the produce aisle.
TO LEARN MORE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, January 2009
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