Carmona Not Glue, Part II-- Saving Americans' Bones From Osteoporosis

Back in July of 2007 I never imagined there was going to be a Part II of Carmona Not Glue... or that DWT would be dealing with the root causes of bone loss in senior citizens. Please click the link above and read about one member of the George W. Bush team whose goals were about actually doing a job or Americans, not for Karl Rove warped vision of right-wing jihad tat drove nearly the entire Bush Regime. Admiral Richard Carmona was Bush's Surgeon General from August 2002 until July 2006. Although he's an unapologetic Republican, Carmona is probably best known-- as much as he's known at all-- for having been highly critical of the Bush Administration once he left office. He was outraged that Rove's strategies led to the systematic interfering with and suppressing scientific findings which conflicted with the Regime's deranged ideological agenda.

An NYC Puerto Rican high school dropout, Carmona enlisted in the army, where he became a combat-decorated Vietnam veteran and began his career in medicine as a Special Forces medic going from registered nurse to physician, hospital CEO and Surgeon General. He's the guy who, much to the chagrin of John Boehner and the lobbyists in Boehnerland GOP, dealt the death knell to tobacco by issuing the definitive report on the toxicity of secondhand smoke which underlined the unacceptable risks and encouraged indoor smoking bans: "The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard." Rove and Boehner and their cronies worked hard to undermine Carmona and in 2007 he accused the Bush Administration of preventing him from speaking out on a wide range of public health issues from embryonic stem cell research, global climate change and emergency contraception, to the idiocy of abstinence-only sex education, where Rove's political calculations conflicted with scientific and medical opinion. "Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried."

Bush and Rove weren't especially concerned about osteoporosis and didn't interfere, as far as I know, with Carmona when he released his groundbreaking 2004 Bone Health Report. But the media, all caught up in the electoral battle between Bush and Kerry-- and with the first Boston Red Sox World Series win since 1918-- ignored it completely. The corporate food industry was satisfied and it didn't even cost them anything to bury a document that could have/should have caused them endless trouble.

Carmona, singled out as one of the "health legends" in Jordan Rubin's newest book, The Raw Truth, warned that if we don’t change our lifestyle habits by 2020, half of American citizens older than 50 years of age would be at risk of fractures from osteoporosis. We're almost there and we haven't changed our eating habits and lifestyle, certainly not in the way Dr. Carmona was advocating.

We tend to think of bone health as it relates to the elderly, but bone health-- and more appropriately bone mineral loss-- should be a concern at all ages of life. So, if you are over 30, the age that is associated with the end of the “bone growth” stage of life and the onset of normal age-related bone mineral loss, then the Surgeon General’s report should be particularly alarming to you. Thankfully, Dr. Carmona and his team of medical experts laid out a three-part plan to address the alarming trends described in this report.

The plan includes improved diet, exercise and health literacy. Particular attention was paid to calcium and vitamin D. The FDA concurs evidenced by its approved health claim that adequate calcium and vitamin D intake, when combined with physical activity and a healthful diet, may reduce the risk of osteoporosis later in life.

Of course, many people looking to boost their bone health choose to supplement their diets. It is in this area that one of the most common myths associated with bone health is found.

If you want healthy bones, all you need is calcium, right? That is the sum total of many people’s knowledge on bone health nutrition. Thousands of manufacturers of calcium supplements would happily have you believe that first statement. That alone should make you wary. When thousands of companies profit from a single widely-held belief, it’s probably time to question that belief.

Here is the truth.

No calcium supplement, taken in the absence of other vitamins and minerals and without proper diet and exercise, has ever been proven in clinical studies to help you strengthen bones. The best that can be said is that calcium supplementation helps slow down or stop bone loss. While slowing bone loss is a great goal, it’s a far cry from making them stronger and healthier by increasing bone mineral density.
As you will learn, there are several factors that go into actually building bone mineral density or growing bone. The source of your calcium is a key factor. Did you know that most calcium supplements are ground-up rocks or oyster shells? Of equal importance to the source of calcium are a host of other vitamins, minerals and trace elements that help calcium achieve its ultimate goal in the body.

...Sun-drenched and teeming with life, our bodies thrive on the nutrition that plants provide. The same will never be said of rocks. Additionally, and of particular importance for bone health, when you take a plant-form calcium supplement, you’re getting far more than just calcium.

The consumption of bone-building co-factor minerals such as magnesium, silica, boron, vanadium and strontium have all been linked to healthy bones. And all of them are naturally occurring in the RAW Calcium algas calcareas.sp.

...Be sure to also eat a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, and chances are that by 2020, no matter what your age, you’ll be more likely to have strong, healthy bones.

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Yesterday Paul Krugman was ruminating about soaring food prices and potentially disastrous shortfalls. Americans who don't have to worry about there not being enough food, have to worry about what kind of food they're eating. Coke and Pepsi aren't food; they're poisonous substances that cause disease. And, regardless of Ronnie RayGun's 100th birthday, ketchup still isn't a vegetable. But making and distributing them are very profitable. Alas, this isn't the kind of stuff our public officials are interested in. At least most of them aren't. There are always exceptions-- like Jared Polis in Colorado. And the woman who's running for Mayor of Chicago, former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun, against Wall Street's candidate (Satan), actually runs an organic food company in real life. Carol is going to be a live Blue America guest at Crooks and Liars on Wednesday afternoon and we're going to be talking with her about health as well as politics. I hope you'll come over and meet her. Meanwhile, the first 10 people who donate at least $25 to her campaign fund at ActBlue will get a free copy of Rubin's book, Raw Truth as a healthy thank you gift from Blue America.