San Jose Back Pain Sufferers May Benefit from Fiber to Improve Nutrient Absorption
“Youth is wasted on the young.” Ever heard that? Chiropractic Solutions supposes that there is a bit of truth in that for all of us - and particularly our San Jose spines - as we age. When we’re young, our bodies require our attention more than we realize. Our youthful bones and spines and bodies require proper nutrition so that our older bones and spine and bodies are healthy when we desire living our lives less painfully and more fully. Chiropractic Solutions shares what San Jose chiropractic patients can do now to address bone mineral density (BMD) issues, regardless of their current age.
BMD AND OSTEOPOROSIS: BUILD BMD WHILE YOUNG
Optimizing peak bone mass early in life may decrease osteoporosis risk later in life. A new report wrote that Vitamin D and calcium in females positively affected bone mineral density into young adulthood. Intakes of phosphorous and the calcium:phosphorous ratio at adolescence for females negatively affected BMD in young adulthood. Calcium intake in adolescent males strongly negatively influenced BMD in the lumbar spine at young adulthood. Other influential factors were body weight at adolescence and young adulthood which positively affected BMD. (1) Chiropractic Solutions cannot stress enough just how important nutrition is for their future well-being.
BENEFITS OF IMPROVED NUTRITION BEYOND BETTER BONE MINERAL DENSITY
Osteoporosis is a disease of older people that results from youthful (in)attention. Low serum levels of vitamin D in osteoporotic women have a tendency to have an heightened chance of having any type of cancer and breast cancer. (2) Calcium intake during the teen years of life is important to reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life. Teen girls absorb calcium more effectively: 326mg in teenage girls versus just 73mg in older women of 1332 mg taken daily. Even more concerning is that teen girls’ daily intake of calcium is far below what it should be. Increasing bone mass by just 5% drops the risk of fracture by 40%. (3) Getting healthy bones hinges on more than just calcium and vitamin D though. Deficiencies of vitamins B, C, E, and K as well as retinol disrupt the health of bone. (4) Chiropractic Solutions presents these statistics to encourage us all to increase intake of nutrients to build bone mass early and support it later to keep it healthy.
IMPROVE ABSORPTION OF NUTRIENTS
Chiropractic Solutions understands that kids and their families want to be sure that their nutritional efforts will be of value. TIP: Dietary fiber may increase the body’s absorption of calcium but does it in different ways for older men and women. Higher intake of dietary fiber and fruit fiber was protective against bone loss in men but not women. Fiber from vegetables was protective against spine bone loss in women but not men. Cereal fiber or nut and legume fiber improvements didn’t associate with bone loss in either men or women. Higher dietary fiber may reduce bone loss in men. (5) Who would have imagined that fiber would have anything to do with bone mineral density? Chiropractic Solutions thinks that many of our San Jose chiropractic patients would not have!
FIBER’S DEFENSE OF MEN’S BMD
Fortunately, some very observant doctors and researchers did observe that fiber intake was a protective factor of lumbar spine BMD in men aged 18 and 45 years of age but not in women. In men over 65 years, nutrient intake showed no effect on BMD. In women between 18 and 45, fiber didn’t show a significant change to BMD, but daily fat intake significantly enhanced BMD. (6) An interesting side note: A new study refutes the idea that BMD may be a risk factor for lumbar disc herniation in youth, but a recent study discredited that idea. (7) However, medical literature points out that the overall value of nutrition - and now fiber intake in men - on the well-being of the body, its bones and its spine.
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Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Nike Taylor on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she helps a patients with chronic low back pain with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your next San Jose chiropractic appointment with Chiropractic Solutions where your spine, body and its bones are well understood in their current age whether they were treated well in their youth or not!
