.... should be of concern to us all because some day we may be lucky enough to get there. Yet the statistics (Injury Facts, National Safety Council) show that incidence of fall deaths rise from 1000 per year ages 15-64 to 15,000 per year from ages 65+. Too often we know of senior relatives and friends who look healthy yet trip on a door threshold or throw rug on top of carpeting, break a hip or a limb and are hospitalized only to lose muscle mass, develop pneumonia and die within a very short period. In fact over one third of senior fallers die within one year and almost half within two years of a fall. Women lead the toll initially but men catch up within a few years. Yet it need not be that way. We need to analyze the main cause, Osteoporosis which is a silent disease that works on our bone interiors making them porous and weak from decades of nutritional disregard. We invited nutrition expert Pam Popper, M.S. to address this issue.

Preventing falls due to Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a condition where bone mass decreases, causing bones to become more susceptible to fracture. Of course, it is important to take every precaution possible to prevent a fall from taking place. But it is also important to pay attention to bone health because a fall, blow or lifting action that would not strain or harm a healthy person can cause one or more bones to break in a person with osteoporosis.

Most advice about how to prevent osteoporosis has centered around consuming calcium-rich foods, like dairy products. However, there are several factors involved in preventing osteoporosis.

First, calcium intake must be adequate, and the calcium must be consumed in food sources from which calcium can be absorbed. Although dairy products are usually recommended and they do, indeed, contain large amounts of calcium, the evidence shows that higher intakes of milk do not reduce the incidence of bone fractures. Better sources of calcium include green leafy vegetables, soy, nuts (especially almonds), dried fruits (especially figs) and blackstrap molasses. Studies have shown that the absorption rate of calcium in green vegetables, for example, is almost twice as high as the calcium in dairy products.

Additionally, it appears that osteoporosis is not a disease resulting from insufficient intake of calcium, as much as it is a disease resulting from a negative calcium balance. If you excrete more calcium than you take in, the result is a negative calcium balance. There are several factors in the typical American diet and lifestyle that can lead to excessive calcium drain. These include tobacco use, consumption of alcohol, caffeine, table salt, soft drinks and excessive animal protein, lack of exercise and insufficient sunlight.

The amount of calcium required to maintain a positive calcium balance is sharply reduced when calcium-draining diet and lifestyle habits are reduced or discontinued. In fact, in many countries where calcium intake is as low as 400 mg. per day, osteoporosis is virtually non-existent.

This is the formula for reducing your risk of osteoporosis:

• Consume calcium-rich foods from which calcium is absorbable.
  
• Discontinue calcium-draining lifestyle habits.
  
• Engage in strength training exercise on a regular basis.
  

How to improve your intake of Nutrients

Use the principle of substitution for slowly changing your food and drink intake from the comfortable tasty hunger-satisfying traditional mode to the tastier-than-I-thought beneficial-for-my-body mode. If you can consume more fruits and vegetables (FDA 5-9 and up to 10 portions per Health Canada), that is a great start and should include sufficient calcium and minerals; if you travel a lot, consider a whole food nutriceutical like Juice Plus that can give you 17 fruits and vegetables per day to increase your immunity from susceptibility to colds and flues plus a lot more. Switching fats to omega-3 oils (certain fish and flaxseed) and canola or olive oil is also a good move; stay away from any food content labeled partially hydrogenated fats (or trans-fatty acids) per Dr. Andrew Weil. Soy products can be made to taste and chew like any meat so try your local Chinese vegetarian cuisine. Leaving dairy products for alternatives is a big step for many people, learn about the drawbacks of dairy on Robert Cohen's informative site, look again to soy for alternatives. Join a wellness center like The Wellness Forum and make the slow gradual change fun through regular discussion and support of like-minded people and where you can trade learning and publications and meet knowledgeable speakers on holistic subjects. The two contrasting food pyramids below can help you make that switch in lifestyle to an emphasis on getting healthy for the rest of your life as opposed to merely controlling weight or taking better vitamins. Periodically check bone density with a test to keep score at WellnessPlus or Merck's Bone Density Testing. Let's treat our bodies like our cars with regular check ups; it's never too early to begin the health process, just don't leave it too late; remember that wellness is a way of life that produces a high quality of health and helps ensure that life will not run out before it has to. Let's reduce osteoporosis and the incidence of disabling diseases now, for greater fall protection.
Call J. Nigel Ellis 302 571 8470 or email with questions or comments.

Useful link: The National Osteoporosis Foundation