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Buying Strontium Bone Maker? Read This...

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Strontium Bone Maker is a rather unique osteoporosis supplement. It has only one active ingredient: strontium. Strontium is a little known mineral but its ability to increase bone mineral density has been proven without a doubt. It is also safe. But how does strontium improve bone health? What is its relationship to calcium? How does it compare to other minerals that are commonly found in osteoporosis supplements? Should you combine other osteoporosis supplements with Strontium Bone Maker? Read on to find out.

What is Strontium Bone Maker?

Strontium Bone Maker is a dietary supplement for treating osteoporosis from Doctor’s Best.

This unique osteoporosis supplement only has one active ingredient: strontium, as strontium citrate. Each capsule of Strontium Bone Maker contains 340 mg of strontium citrate. The inactive ingredients in the supplement are cellulose and magnesium stearate.

The recommended dose of Strontium Bone Maker is 2 capsules daily taken at once.

The manufacturer recommends that users ensure that they meet the recommended dietary intake of calcium and vitamin D3. This is because calcium is central to bone mineralization and vitamin D3 improves the absorption and utilization of calcium.

However, Strontium Bone Maker should not be taken at the same time as calcium because both strontium and calcium compete for absorption.

Strontium Bone Maker is sold in bottles and each bottle contains 120 or 60 capsules.

Strontium and Calcium

Although the major mineral found in the bone is calcium, there are actually at least a dozen other minerals in the bone. Strontium is one of such minerals.

Strontium has a bigger molecular size than calcium and it is found at 3.5% the concentration of calcium in the bone.

Although strontium is a trace mineral in humans, most of the absorbed strontium is found in the bones and teeth. Humans can obtain this mineral both from diet and supplements.

The body absorbs strontium in 2 ways: passive diffusion of the mineral through the intestinal wall into the blood and active absorption via a carrier molecule. These are the same mechanisms by which calcium is taken up into the blood.

As we grow older, the absorption of strontium decreases. Therefore, adults usually have a higher need for strontium.

Besides age, a high intake of calcium can reduce the absorption of strontium. Therefore, people who regularly take high doses of calcium are likely to have very low levels of strontium. Even when present in equal amounts, the absorption of calcium is twice the absorption of strontium. With high dose calcium supplementation, the absorption of strontium is further diminished.

On the other hand, when strontium is taken in high amounts without a corresponding increase in calcium intake, bone mineralization is adversely affected. This is because strontium replaces calcium in the bone in the absence of calcium.

This substitution is, however, not ideal. Because strontium is heavier than calcium, replacing calcium with strontium in the bone produces structural imbalances in the crystal lattice of the basic unit of the bone.

Therefore, a balance of strontium and calcium is essential for proper bone mineralization.

Strontium For Osteoporosis

Besides serving as one of the minerals found in the bone, strontium also improves bone health by other means.

Studies have found that strontium promotes osteogenesis or the formation of new bone. In addition, it blocks the breakdown of bones.

To inhibit bone resorption (the breaking down of bones), strontium blocks the activities of a class of cells known as osteoclasts. Osteoclasts are responsible for bone resorption and the re-absorption of the bone. They cause a reduction in bone mineral density.

On the other hand, osteoblasts are cells that promote the formation of new bones. By producing the protein known as osteocalcin, osteoblasts promote bone mineralization.

Multiple studies have confirmed that strontium promotes the activities of osteoblasts.

Studies on Strontium and Osteoporosis

In a 2007 paper detailing the work of a group of researchers from the SDM College of Dental Sciences, Buffalo, New York, it was shown that strontium citrate promotes both the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts.

Therefore, to promote osteogenesis, strontium increases the population of osteoblasts.

In that study, strontium citrate increased the activities of the enzyme, alkaline phosphatase. This enzyme is found in human osteoblasts and serves as a measure of bone growth.

While the popular forms of strontium in the US are the citrate, chloride, carbonate and gluconate salts, strontium ranelate is more commonly used in studies and is approved as a drug in Europe. Even though it is a prescription drug, it basically supplies the same strontium found in dietary supplements such as Strontium Bone Maker.

In a 2004 study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers gave 1,649 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis either placebo or 2 g/day of strontium ranelate for 3 years.

Both the treatment group and the placebo group also received calcium and vitamin D supplements during the study.

The results of the study showed that the group receiving strontium ranelate experienced fewer new bone fractures than the placebo group. In addition, they found that strontium reduced the risk of osteoporotic bone fractures by 41% while increasing the bone mineral density of the spine by 14.4% and 8.3% at the femur.

Just like other studies investigating the benefits of the mineral on bone health, this study found no serious adverse effects with strontium use in the treatment of osteoporosis.

Unlike osteoporosis drugs such as bisphosphonates (one example is Fosamax), strontium supplements such as Strontium Bone Maker improve teeth, the jaw bone, and joint health.

Is Strontium Bone Maker Effective?

Although the evidence for strontium in the treatment of osteoporosis is strong and consistent, it is rarely recommended for osteoporotic patients in the medical community. However, all indications point to the fact that strontium is quite effective.

In fact, the earliest evidence supporting the effectiveness of strontium in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis dates back to the 1950s.

Over the years, studies have confirmed that strontium can reduce the risk of fractures affecting the bones of the limbs, spine, and hip.

Doctor’s Best simply derived its unique formula from a large body of overlooked evidence that supported the efficacy and safety of strontium as an osteoporosis treatment option.

It is no wonder then that Strontium Bone Maker is highly reviewed by past users. Most of these users are pleasantly surprised to have stumbled upon such a simple and effective formula. In fact, 9 out of 10 users highly praised this supplement.

Some of these users had previously taken prescription osteoporosis drugs and have failed to improve or turned off by the severe side effects of such drugs.

Strontium Bone Maker, on the other hand, has been consistently shown to be safe and well-tolerated.

By including only strontium, this supplement is a no-frills formula. The efficacy of the supplement rests solely on that single mineral and, as reviews show, it is an excellent choice.

How can a mineral you have never heard of be so effective and safe? The table below provides a summary of reasons.

Why Strontium Is Effective

Strontium is

  • naturally found in the bones;
  • easily absorbed into the body;
  • preferentially stored in the bone and teeth rather than freely circulating in the blood;
  • structurally similar to calcium and magnesium (two minerals that are already important for bone mineralization);
  • sometimes used as a substitute for calcium in the bones;
  • known to promote bone formation and inhibit bone resorption

The only flaw of Strontium Bone Maker is also its only strength. By only including strontium in its formulation, the manufacturer has overlooked more important bone minerals such as magnesium and zinc as well as vitamins D and K.

Magnesium and zinc, as well as boron, copper, and manganese, improve bone mineral density by the same mechanisms as strontium.

Therefore, their inclusion would have made Strontium Bone Maker a better osteoporosis supplement.

Vitamins D (D3) and K (K2) are just as important as these minerals. They not only improve the absorption of these minerals but also enhance the activity of osteoblasts.

The exclusion of calcium can be forgiven because most osteoporosis patients already take too much calcium either from supplements or dietary sources.

Even then, it would have been better to include some calcium especially considering the fact that strontium can lead to improperly mineralized bones if calcium intake is very low. Therefore, Strontium Bone Maker may do more harm than good for osteoporosis patients with hypocalcemia.

Still, it is hard to argue with the excellent results produced by Strontium Bone Maker. Its choice of ingredients may be simple and single but it is an effective one.

Sources


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8756328212008319

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmoa022436

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Y6W2E2

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