Healthy by Nature radio show this week: I’ve become increasingly fascinated with the role of various hormones and how they all affect each other and produce effects you’d never expect. I’ve invited Dr. John Woodward and Hugh Woodward back to talk about some of the research I’ve seen on DHEA. In the second half of the show my guest will be Ellen Shuman, founder of and a coach with A Weigh Out . We’ll discuss emotional and binge eating. (I can really relate. I’m stressed that I’m running late on this newsletter and that makes me want a cookie. When I’ve completed it I’ll be happy…and want a cookie. Seriously. Fortunately, I don’t have any cookies. But that is frustrating which makes me want…you guessed it. Xlear gum will have to do until Ellen tells me how to solve the real problem.) Ellen has been an award-winning broadcast journalist and so perhaps she can also give me some pointers for improving the show. Join us by calling 1-800-281-8255. Click here to find podcasts, show archives and ways to listen nationwide .

Recent Research

Vitamin K & Bone Strength . Intake of Vitamin K was shown to significantly improve bone density in elderly subjects.¹
My 2 Cents : That Vitamin K helps bones is not news. Scientists conduct studies to confirm over and over again what we already know, I guess to better understand the mechanics. (Possibly it is also easier to get funding to take a baby step along a beaten path than to head out in a whole new direction.) In this case the researchers showed dietary Vitamin K was associated with reductions in the expected age-related sponginess and losses of bone flexibility. Bone strength isn’t the only benefit of Vitamin K. It also helps keep calcium from building up in arteries where it doesn’t belong. Getting yourself up to adequate levels of Vitamin K is certainly safer than taking the osteoporosis drugs that can have such serious side effects. (E.g. brittle bones and even jawbone death.)

Vitamin K & Inflammatory Bowel Disease. This study involved 87 patients-47 with Crohn’s Disease (CD) and 40 with ulcerative colitis. The authors concluded, “Vitamins K and D are insufficient in patients with IBD. Insufficiency of vitamin K is suggested to be associated with inflammatory processes of CD.”²
My 2 Cents : This association between low levels vitamins K and D and the condition doesn’t prove that is the cause, but there is no harm in seeing if they help. At least you’d be helping your bones. Dark green leafy vegetables like spinach are excellent sources of Vitamin K. So is a Japanese fermented soybean goop (food) called Natto. Unfortunately, it smells awful and tastes like it smells. If you choose to supplement Vitamin K, do it with the K2 form. Jarrow Formulas has a good one, MK-7 (Menaquinone-7). It is an enhanced bioactive form of vitamin K2 from Natto that is ten times better absorbed than K1 the type in spinach. (See featured sponsor below.)

Folic Acid and Bone Loss . Homocysteine is an amino acid made by the body. Excessively high levels are thought to be a cause of cardiovascular disease, bone disease and perhaps even cancer. In this animal study it was found that supplementing the B vitamin, Folic Acid, offset the homocysteine damage and improved bone blood flow and appropriate bone maintenance. Researchers concluded that folic acid may be therapeutic for bone loss from homocysteine.³
My 2 Cents : The best combination for lowering homocysteine in humans (not so sure about mice) is Folic Acid combined with Vitamin B 6 and Vitamin B 12 . All three have a lot of other beneficial properties that I’ll save for another issue. I supplement these three with a sublingual. The B 12 is in the preferred Methyl form and the pellet dissolves almost instantly in your mouth. It even tastes good. One of our other sponsors, RealFoodGrocery has that product on a special sale through Tuesday: Link .

LAST WEEK

In last week’s newsletter I said I’d tell you why I was so rushed. I later decided that a lot of it was boring business stuff and one part was a surprise I must save for later. But it would be fun to share one of the activities: I was making a cake for my grandson Tanner’s birthday. He is interested in fishing at the moment. Everything you see is edible including the fishing lure and the line (rice noodle). (No. Sorry, this isn’t a health food cake.) I’ve hidden a link to photos of some of my other cakes on the RadioMartie.com site. (Hint, it’s somewhere under “About Us“.) If I ever make one of these rainbow trout cakes again I know now how to do it better, stronger and faster.

RadioMartie Featured Sponsor of the Week

Sponsor: Jarrow Formulas is the source of the Vitamin K (MK7) that I recommended above as well as dozens of other cutting-edge supplements like their superior bone formula, Bone-Up.

The deal: Join their Coupon Club and enjoy access to regular savings.

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My first book : Natural Alternatives to Nexium, Maalox, Tagamet, Prilosec & Other Acid Blockers. Subtitle: What to Use to Relieve Acid Reflux, Heartburn, and Gastric Ailments.

My latest book : Aloe Vera-Modern Science Sheds Light on an Ancient Herbal Remedy

Copyright 2011 Martie Whittekin, CCN

¹Bulló M, Estruch R, Salas-Salvadó J., Dietary vitamin K intake is associated with bone quantitative ultrasound measurements but not with bone peripheral biochemical markers in elderly men and women. Bone. 2011 Apr 5. [Epub ahead of print]

²Nakajima S, Association of vitamin K deficiency with bone metabolism and clinical disease activity in inflammatory bowel disease.I Nutrition. 2011 Apr 8. [Epub ahead of print]

³Tyagi N, Homocysteine mediated decrease in bone blood flow and remodeling: Role of folic acid . J Orthop Res. 2011 Apr 5. doi: 10.1002/jor.21415. [Epub ahead of print]