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Most people know that calcium supplements are recommended for healthy bones. If you’re really up on the latest data, you’re also adding a good dose of vitamin D3 and magnesium to the mix. However, bones are living tissue and require many other nutrients as well to maintain a healthy, strong matrix.
A few of these lesser-known bone-builders:
• Vitamin K, abundant in leafy green vegetables, plays a key role in bone formation, remodeling, and repair by helping build the protein matrix on which bone is mineralized. Without vitamin K, bones don’t get built in a strong, lattice-like structure, and as a result, are brittle and fragile. In recent studies, vitamin K has been shown to reduce the risk of hip fractures by 73%.
• Zinc is found in the bone matrix and helps stimulate bone-building activity. In fact, people with lower bone density have less zinc in their bone. Zinc is also an important antioxidant that helps suppress bone loss caused by free radical damage and by the normal breakdown of bone as it rebuilds itself.
• Boron, a trace mineral, has a powerful influence on the metabolism of calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D. Boron also exerts an effect on the production of estrogen and DHEA, two hormones helpful for maintaining bone density after menopause.
• Strontium ranelate, distinct from the radioactive Strontium-90, is a promising new osteoporosis treatment from Europe. Since strontium ranelate is chemically similar to calcium, it is drawn to the same sites on bone, adding additional strength. Strontium may also draw additional calcium to the bone.
OsteoPrime Ultra contains these nutrients in the correct amounts, plus the calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D3 required for healthy bones; available in convenient tablets.
For a good book on bone health, check out Dr Alan Gaby’s Preventing & Reversing Osteoporosis.
Be well,
David Edelberg, MD