Collagen does a body good! We need collagen for strong, healthy skin, hair, tendons, cartilage and other tissues. Many joint problems are simply due to not enough collagen in the diet or because the body…
What Is Vitamin C?Vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid or ascorbate, is an essential water soluble vitamin.
Fresh supplies of vitamin C are required every day to perform vital roles throughout the body among which are the production of connective tissue such as skin, blood vessels and bone, anti-inflammatory responses and anti-oxidant performance. See below for all roles.
Vitamin C fights for us! It has an anti-cancer effect stemming from its role as a potent anti-oxidant in blood plasma and within cells. It also protects nucleic acids (DNA) from oxidative damage and inhibits the formation of nitrosamines (carcinogenic compounds formed in the digestive tract).
Importantly, vitamin C can regenerate vitamin E from an oxidized state after vitamin E performs its own anti-oxidant role against free radicals and vitamin C works together with other anti-oxidants, such as beta-carotene and glutathione, to increase their overall anti-oxidant effect.
A study investigating the specific anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant micronutrients that reduce oxidative stress found that in adolescents with metabolic syndrome (MetS) the lower the vitamin C level in blood the worse the MetS status and blood uric acid level. MetS prevalence was estimated at 7% among boys and 3% among girls.1
Vitamin C reverses osteoporosis by reducing or preventing oxidative stress that destroys living bone tissue. Osteoporosis is a disorder of bone inflammation that results in thin, weak bones that may easily fracture. In normal bone structure, vitamin C is required to form collagen, which is living bone tissue.
In humans, vitamin C reduces the duration of common cold symptoms, even if its effect is not clear.2
Vitamin C must be obtained from food daily because our bodies, unlike monkeys and other animals, cannot produce it.
Urinary excretion of vitamin C cannot be detected when vitamin intake is below the required levels. On the other hand, when intake exceeds saturation in the body, the vitamin and/or its metabolites are actively excreted into urine to prevent excessive toxicity of the vitamins.3
Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disorder characterized by diminished bone mass (density) with normal cell appearance but fragile bone strength that prediposes to broken bones, and with high bone turnover.
This condition usually goes undetected until late when loss of height or a bone fracture occurs. In fact, each year 1.5 million fractures mainly of the hip, spine and wrist are attributed to osteoporosis. Compression fractures of vertebrae bones are the most common, accounting for 700,000 cases.
Bone is composed of specialized connective tissue called osseous tissue. Osseous tissue is made up of living bone cells (osteocytes) that are embedded in a hard matrix (framework) of calcified substance.
Bone matrix contains collagen fibers and the minerals calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate, which provide strength to bone. The copper enzyme, lysyl oxidase, is involved in the cross-linking of collagen in forming the framework for depositing calcium and other minerals to build and repair bone.
Q: How do osteocytes function in bone?
A: Osteocytes maintain the health of bone by their metabolic activity in regulating normal bone turnover. Bone turnover is the breaking down and removal of old or damaged bone and rebuilding or remodeling of healthy bone that is ongoing throughout life. The bone formation process takes about 3 months to complete.
Osteoporosis develops from failure of the body to maintain health and to provide bone tissue with adequate nutrition for proper function. Risk factors that can be modified include: low calcium intake, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, drinking alcohol excessively, eating a diet with excessive caffeine, protein, and phosphate, and taking certain medications over a long time such as steroids, thyroid preparations, the anti-convulsive drug phenytoin, aspirin, antacids, anticoagulants, some diuretics, and some chemotherapeutic drugs. See below for a fuller description.
In addition to celiac disease, osteoporosis is associated with advancing age, family history, nulliparity (no pregnancies) and post-menopause in females, certain disorders such as hyperthyroidism, hypogonadism, inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn’s disease, multiple myeloma, anorexia nervosa, and Cushing’s disease.
Bone strength is easily measured by testing bone mineral density (BMD). BMD is evaluated by DEXA scan (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry). DEXA at the femoral neck and lumbar spine is considered the gold standard to confirm the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Results are expressed as T and Z scores. T scores compare the result with a 20 to 40 year old helathy person while Z scores compare the result with persons in the same age group. Both are measured in standard deviations (SD).
According to WHO criteria (World Health Organization), a T-score of -1 SD or greater denotes normal bone, a T-score between −1 to −2.5 SD denotes osteopenia, and a T-score of −2.5 or more denotes osteoporosis.1
Treatment is aimed to preserve and increase bone density, minimize symptoms for better quality of life and reduce risk of bone fractures.
The cumulative effects of gluten-induced inflammation, treatment delay, and malabsorption result in lower bone density and bone fragility.2
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What Are Essential Amino Acids?Amino acids are small molecules, or subunits, that link together in various combinations to make up big, complicated proteins. As such, amino acids are commonly referred to as “the building blocks” of proteins.
Q: How many amino acids are used in our body?
A: There are 20 amino acids that are used within our body to synthesize or produce our unique human proteins. Of these amino acids, 9 are termed essential, meaning our bodies require them to live but cannot make them. Therefore, the essential amino acids must come from the food we eat, whether from plant or animal sources.
The essential amino acids include histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.