There has been a tremendous amount of research on the natural compound icariin in recent years.  The substance is usually isolated from Horny Goat Weed (what a name) also known as yin yang huo.  I'll highlight the research by category here:

Osteoporosis

Several studies indicate that icariin both stimulates the growth of new bone, and slows the destruction of old bone.  As a result a recent 2-year study on menopausal women showed that using the supplement increased bone mass in the hip and low back by 1.6 and 1.3 percent, where as the placebo group lost bone by 1.8 and 2.4 percent.  These percentages make a big difference in fracture risk.  Several other studies in rats have further demonstrated the benefits of icariin.

Alzheimer's

New research in rats shows that icariin improves learning and memory in rat-models of Alzheimer's.  Author's in one of these studies concluded "In the space probing test, icariin increased remarkably the searching time and searching distance in the quadrant where the platform was originally located. All tests indicated icariin improved the ability of spatial learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease model rats."

Stroke

Rats supplemented with icariin and deprived of oxygen have less damage than non-supplemented rats.  Icariin improved blood flow, decreases oxidative "collateral damage" after a stroke, and promotes acetylcholine-- a neurotransmitter tightly linked to memory.  Read the study.

The strong, consistent research on this herb in building bone and protecting the brain, as well as an excellent safety profile, make it worth giving a try for individuals with osteopenia or osteoporosis.

Vitamin D has been getting a lot of press lately, and rightly so.  If your read my blog you know that supplementing with some vitamins increases your chance of disease--specifically, supplemental vitamin C has been shown to increase cancer and cardiovascular death, vitamin E increases death rates in smokers, and vitamin A is toxic at high levels.  Vitamin D, however, is coming out looking like a gem--supplementation boosts the immune system, builds bone, decreases cancer, gives resistance to the flu, and decreases death rates significantly (read this study).

Further, we now know that vitamin D requirements are higher than we once thought.   New research shows that "the actual observations in both younger and older adults show that to ensure the goal of a vitamin D of 80 nmol/L in almost all adults, 100 mcg/d is required."  This dosage in I.U. (which is how most vitamin D supplements are labled), is 4,000 I.U.

For these reasons I now carry an excellent vitamin D supplement in my office.  In addition to a high dose of emulsified vitamin D, it contains Cod Liver oil, Genistein, and cofactors for absorption.  Check it out!

If you want to improve coordination and steadiness, yoga is for you.  A new study shows that 8 weeks of regular yoga practice produces consistent improvement in balance, coordination and steadiness.  These benefits stand to benefit all types of athletes as well as older people at risk for falling.

The study also showed a significant increase in leg strength.  These combined findings make yoga ideally suited to older people.  The single greatest risk factor for not being able to be independent as we get older is lack of leg strength.  The greatest predictor of falling is poor balance.  Said another way, if your legs are weak you are less likely to be able to live  on your own when you are older and if your balance is not optimal you are more likely to fall and break a hip. 

Here is a test you can do at home to determine whether your balance may be in need of a yoga-tune-up. 

• Stand in front of your bathroom sink. 
  
• Place your hands on the sink and lift one foot so that you are standing on one foot. 
  
• Close your eyes and lift your hands off the sink keeping them close enough to the sink to catch yourself if you lose your balance. 
  

Can you stand for 10 seconds?  Try it on the other foot.  If you can't last 10 seconds I suggest a trip to the chiropractor (another therapy proven to improve motor coordination) and a visit to your local yoga studio!

Read the study here.

Curcumin, an extract from turmeric, has can be used to combat osteoporosis.  Curcumin has been extensively researched for cancer prevention, improving immune function, heart protection, and anti-inflammatroy effects.  A recent study may add bone-health to the list of reaseons to supplement with curcumin.  The study involved removing the ovaries form female rats.  This produces hormonal changes similar to those in post-menopausal women--specifically, estrogen production drops off.  Since estrogen is necessary for bone health, the rats developed osteoporosis.  The researchers then tried supplementing a similar group of rats with curcumin, and their bone density increased!  They concluded "Curcumin produces beneficial changes in bone turnover and increases in bone strength using the ovariectomized mature rat model of postmenopausal osteoporosis."

Please visit my Osteoporosis Page for more information on how to build bone health holistically!  Also note that in my store I have a product that combines the bone building effects of whey protein with curcumin.  I highly recommend it for bone health.

Read the study here. 

More research is mounting as to how vibration therapy builds bone (read this recent blog on the subject).  The New York Times reports that “Dr. Rubin, director of the Center for Biotechnology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is reporting that in mice, a simple treatment that does not involve drugs appears to be directing cells to turn into bone instead of fat.”

Dr. Rubin rerported not only an increase in bone density, as has been seen in other studies in humans, but a 27% reduction in fat!  He believes that stem cells in bone marrow are being guided to become bone cells rather than fat cells.  Prior studies in people have shown increases in strength and in lean muscle mass (as well as bone density), but to my knowledge this is the first study that actually looked at the amount of body fat.

Click here to read the report in The New York Times.  I have a vibrating plate in my office and have seen patients achieve profound results.  You can buy a relatively affordable home unit at www.soloflex.com.  Check it out!

How about a therapy that increases bone-density, improves balance, and increases muscle strength in 3 minutes per day with no side-effects?  Whole-body vibration is just such a therapy.  For those of you unfamiliar with this treatment, it simply involves standing on a vibrating plate—a piece of equipment that vibrates rapidly. 

There has been a great deal of research on this treatment, and I have been using it in my office for a year with excellent results.  It has been shown to increase bone density and muscle strength (read study here), and improve balance (read study here) in three minute per day!

The bottom line is that if you are osteoporotic or osteopenic, this is an excellent modality for you.  Vibrating plates are showing up in gyms and alternative health offices rapidly—check them out!

Read More about osteoporosis on my Osteoporosis Page. 

Balance and stability are very complicated tasks that we continually perform without even thinking.  With osteoporosis rates skyrocketing improving balance has become very important in order to prevent falls and fractures—especially in the elderly.  We know that exercises such as yoga poses (tree pose for instance), standing on one foot, and Tai’ Chi all improve balance.  New research shows that music may be another tool with which to improve balance.

The research was reported in this month’s Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Therapy.  Researchers found that listening to music did, in fact, improve postural stability and balance.  Interestingly, they found that not all music was equal.  The best results came from a French female singer named Nolwenn Leroy!  About 70% of listeners to Nolwenn’s voice improved their balance to ideal, whereas only about 50% of Mozart listeners did (one unnamed U.S. artist elicited no improvement).  The scientists dubbed it “the Nolwenn Effect”! 

I know what I’ll be downloading off i-tunes next!

Read the research here.

Soy has been touted to increase bone mass and decrease osteoporosis.  On closer examination, the research that leads to that conclusion is flawed for 2 reasons.  First, there are large studies that show decreased rates of osteoporosis among Japanese women consuming a traditional Japanese diet.  With these studies it is very difficult to control for the numerous other factors that may be contributing to these women’s higher bone mass.  In addition, these women consume soy in a more traditional form, with most of it coming from fermented foods such as miso and tempeh—not the highly processed TVP, soy milk, and soy protein found in this country.  These more traditional forms of soy are healthful because bacteria break down plant estrogens and trypsin inhibitors (substances that block the effect of trypsin in your gut--trypsin allows you to digest protein).  Most soy products in this country are very high in trypsin inhibitors and plant estrogens.

The second reason that these studies are suspicious is that most of them are funded by Monsanto—producer of round up and world leader in soy production.  This is tantamount to a recent rebuttal to a paper on aspartame causing cancer by a representative of Ajinomoto Corporate Services LLC which holds 45% of the market share for worldwide aspartame production!

Research released this month in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that soy protein does not improve bone mass.  

Recall that undenatured whey protein has consistently been shown to improve bone mass and has a host of other health benefits.  Read more here, then buy it here!

Read the monkey study here.

An excellent review was published in this month's Alternative Medicine Review on managing osteoporosis with nutrition.  Many people still believe that eating copious amounts of calcium pills will improve their bone density despite ample scientific evidence refuting the concept.  Calcium deficiency is incredibly rare in the western world--far more common are diets and lifestyles that disturb metabolism and rob bone of it's building blocks.

The authors of the review brilliantly showed the link between systemic inflammation (which is at the root of most degenerative disease), the immune system, and bone metabolism.  The recommendations were to use nutrition to lower systemic inflammation and increase bone health.  Here are the main recommendations of the authors of the paper:

• Use whey protein--I recommend undenatured whey protein (here is a link to more info on whey protein--here is a link to the product).
•  Be sure to get plenty of potassium and vitamin K---for potassium this vegetables and bananas, for vitamin K avoid antibiotics and eat plenty of fermented foods (yogurt, kefir, kimchee, saurkraut etc) because it is the bacteria in your gut that make vitamin K!
• Use lipoic acid and N-acetylcysteine (powerful antioxidants discussed in this article)

This is one of the best articles I've read on the subject of osteoporosis and bone health because the authors targeted the cause rather that the symptom.  Of course, while following these recommendations, be sure to exercise vigorously to place the demand on your body to increase bone density.  Please take the time to visit the Osteoporosis Page, the Exercise Page, and the Whey Protein Page, as they are all crucial in building bone health!

Read the summary of the study here.

New research sheds light on the question of taking supplemental calcium for bone health.  The study involved 168 postmenopausal women and compared women who ate a diet rich in calcium to women who took calcium supplements but had calcium-poor diets.  The women eating a calcium-rich diet (these women also ate more fruit) had much higher bone density than women who got there calcium from supplements.  Supplements alone actually were associated with the lowest bone density scores in the study!  

Interestingly, the researchers proposed that the increased dietary calcium improved estrogen metabolism.  Achieving healthy bones is not merely an act of "stuffing more calcium in your body", it is a complex interaction of many variables that affect overall metabolism.  Dietary calcium appears to be one key in the puzzle.  Read more about osteoporosis and what you can do about it on the Osteoporosis Page--topics include drugs that decrease bone density, depression and bone density, and more on food.

Read the study here.