Calcium Supplements May Damage the Heart

After analyzing 10 years of medical tests on more than 2,700 people in a federally funded heart disease study, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and elsewhere conclude that taking calcium in the form of supplements may raise the risk of plaque buildup in arteries and heart damage, although a diet high in calcium-rich foods appears be protective.

In a report on the research, published Oct. 10 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers caution that their work only documents an association between calcium supplements and atherosclerosis, and does not prove cause and effect.

But they say the results add to growing scientific concerns about the potential harms of supplements, and they urge a consultation with a knowledgeable physician before using calcium supplements. An estimated 43 percent of American adult men and women take a supplement that includes calcium, according the National Institutes of Health.

“When it comes to using vitamin and mineral supplements, particularly calcium supplements being taken for bone health, many Americans think that more is always better,” says Erin Michos, M.D., M.H.S., associate director of preventive cardiology and associate professor of medicine at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But our study adds to the body of evidence that excess calcium in the form of supplements may harm the heart and vascular system.”

The researchers were motivated to look at the effects of calcium on the heart and vascular system because studies already showed that “ingested calcium supplements — particularly in older people — don’t make it to the skeleton or get completely excreted in the urine, so they must be accumulating in the body’s soft tissues,” says nutritionist John Anderson, Ph.D., professor emeritus of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a co-author of the report. Scientists also knew that as a person ages, calcium-based plaque builds up in the body’s main blood vessel, the aorta and other arteries, impeding blood flow and increasing the risk of heart attack.

For more information be sure to look at the article on Johns Hopkins Medical site.

The Plastic Plague

Each day we encounter well over 500 chemicals that our bodies are tasked with detoxifying. Some of the worst and most pervasive are Phthalates that not only are instrumental in causing allergies but have been linked to prostatic hypertrophy, endometriosis, breast cancer, hypo-testosteronism, hypothyroidism, infertility, animals mating with the same sex, inability to lose weight, asthma, birth defects, cancers, diabetes, and infinitely more. Phthalate levels in the human body are over 10,000 times higher than most other pollutants. No other pollutant even comes close! 

Let's take a look at just one toxic environmental chemical family that is in all of us. We literally cannot avoid it if we live on this planet. U.S. Government researchers have found them in all humans. Even when researchers drop helicopters into pristine road-less areas, far from industry, they find this pollutant in all species of life they examine, from fish and salamanders to the largest mammals. They are actually a family of man-made chemicals which define modern life as we know it, the phthalates, better recognized by you as plastics and plasticizers. But they go far beyond our concept of a plastic, because they add flexibility, durability, slow-release, cost-effectiveness, scent, light and heat protection, and many other properties to things we do not consider as plastics.

Phthalates (plastic-derived carcinogenic chemicals made from petroleum) are in your plastic water bottle and other food containers (linings of cans, juice boxes, plastic wrap and Styrofoam trays), not to mention infant formula bottles. In fact baby bottles have some of the highest levels of phthalates, and this is made even worse by microwaving a baby's bottle. Plus when the mother drinks out of plastic water bottles, the plastics cross the placenta and head for the fetus's brain and glands that produce hormones. And unfortunately low doses have been shown to be more toxic than higher ones. Phthalates are in food containers of nearly every type from soup to cereals, hidden in boxes, bags and beer, food and soda cans, or blatantly in Styrofoam trays and cups and plastic wrap, and plastic bottles and jugs. Phthalates are in dental fillings (composites), even the glues for dental crowns, the bags that hold "safe" saline breast implants, and are a large part of dental implants and joint replacement adhesives or glues and elute from coronary artery stents (methylacrylates).

Phthalates or plasticizers outgas from IVs, dental materials, vinyl floors, carpeting, mattresses, most furnishings (couches, chairs, mattresses, desk and tables), appliances, computers, home and office and construction materials, automobiles, the coatings of electric wires (nestled in the walls of every building outgas as they heat), PVC plumbing, etc. The list is endless. Clearly phthalates are the most ubiquitously unavoidable pollutant in the human body. The evidence is overwhelming. The phthalates (plastics) permeate every aspect of our life, since they are ingredients in even cosmetics and toiletries, nail polishes, perfumes, deodorants, hair conditioners, lotions and other personal care products as well as medications, especially those that are called "extended release" or "24 hour" or "time release" or "slow release". For it is the plastic coating that creates this property.

And if these were not dangerous enough by themselves, they are never alone. They are usually combined in products with equally or even more dangerous environmental pollutants like the phthalate cousin BPA (bisphenol A, often accompanies phthalates), PBDE (flame retardants), PFOA (stain resistant, water resistant, Teflon type chemicals), VOHs (volatile organic hydrocarbons which include xylene, toluene, benzene, and hundreds more), pesticides, etc. All these are often called POPs, or persistent environmental pollutants, because most of them take decades to break down. 

And now even animals in the wild have measurable levels in their systems. Yet they don't use Styrofoam cups, plastic water and infant bottles, nor shrink-wrap their foods in plastic. Nor do they live in enclosed homes and offices with huge amounts of furnishings as well as appliances that outgas phthalates. Nor do they ride in toxic car/planes, in heavy exhaust, or work in polluted factories and offices made from an abundance of construction materials making them literal phthalate cocoons. We have truly changed the air on the planet Earth in this century. And worse, we have changed the chemistry of the human body more than at any other time. 

The evidence now for phthalates being able to contribute to or directly causing every malady known is overwhelming. Babies are born with measurable levels, and if they have to spend time in the hospital to be on IVs, or have catheters or gastric tubes, this raises their levels even further. Birth defects and lowered IQ, hypothyroidism, neurologic and especially brain dysfunctions are among the many spin-off diseases from the privilege of living in this world of convenient plastics. Cancers, from prostate, testicular and breast to brain and pancreatic, can be programmed in the genetic of babies while they are still in the womb, only to have their emergence suppressed until adulthood. 

In many of the reports you will encounter the term bisphenol A or BPA. As a broadly used industrial chemical and polycarbonate and epoxy resin that also lines food cans, BPA migrates directly form those containers into the foods, just as phthalates do. Although BPA is not technically a phthalate, it is most of the time found combined with phthalates (from carbonless copy paper to cabinets) and his its own toxic properties in addition to those of the phthalates that it's connected with. Therefor since these two toxins are usually present as a combination, it is quite meaningless to separate their toxicities since they usually occur in combination. As well, they share several mechanisms of toxicity in the body. So don't be hoodwinked by proclamations that a products is "BPA free". The manufacturers assume you are ignorant of the hidden phthalates.

Meanwhile, remember phthalates and BPA are only two thousands of chemicals that we are exposed to and minimally hundreds each day that our bodies are asked to detoxify. Even chemicals in cellophane and plastic windows of cookie boxes are proven to migrate into the foods that they do not even contact. We cannot escape them, nor can we detoxify or metabolize all that we are exposed to in a day. 

Excerpt from "How to Cure Diabetes!" by Sherry Rogers

Smart Abdominal Training

Although you are regularly bombarded with exercises claiming to tone and strengthen the abdominal muscles, many of these exercises are inadequate and ineffective. Some exercises may actually lead to lower back pain, and do little to strengthen the abdominals.

The ‘villains’ of abdominal training are the hip flexors, which bring the legs and trunk toward each other. Muscles that flex the hip include the psoas major, illiacus, rectus femoris, pectineus and sartorius. Full sit-ups involve the hip flexors, which may cause the lower back to arch and unwanted back pain, particularly in individuals with relatively weak abdominals. Leg-raising exercises in a supine position challenge the hip flexors with limited involvement of the abdominals. Frequently, there is a muscle imbalance between the weaker abdominals and the stronger hip flexors in trunk flexing movements. The goal of abdominal training is to maximize the involvement of the abdominals, while minimizing the involvement of the hip flexors.

How to Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Importance of Structural Balance for Injury Prevention

What is the Science Behind Structural Balance Assessments?

The concept of structural balance is that a muscle’s ability to develop force is a function of the strength of the opposing muscle group and its stabilizers. Many training and sports-related injuries are often the result of muscular imbalances – strength discrepancies between opposing and synergist muscle groups or even between limbs. These structural imbalances are often caused by a combination of the repetitive motions involved in many sports and/or a lack of exercise variety in training.

A Structural Balance Analogy:

Another way to understand structural balance to imagine you are building a house. In construction, the term “footing” describes the concrete support that the foundation is built upon. The footing also spreads the weight of the structure evenly over a wider area. The walls of the house are then built on the foundation. However, if the footing is poorly developed it compromises the stability of the foundation, which in turn, compromises the structural integrity of the entire house.

Each of the body’s joints are similar to the above analogy in that the joint is the house and the muscles and tendons controlling that joint are the foundation and footing. Viewed as a whole, if the stability of one joint is compromised it will affect the structural integrity of the entire body.

This is the proverbial “only as strong as the weakest link” axiom.

A joint is controlled by two primary sets of opposing muscle groups; one set of muscles flexes the joint and the other extends it. Synergistic muscles help the respective primary muscle perform its action. While one primary muscle group and its synergists are moving the joint, the opposing muscle group and it synergists are stabilizing it from the opposite side.

There is an optimal balance of strength between these muscle groups that control a joint, but if the muscles on one side of the joint are disproportionately stronger than the muscles on the opposing side it creates joint instability, which increases the risk of injury to that joint.

The take away point here is balance is important and vital to injury prevention.

Figure 1: Notice the difference between normal and imbalanced strength and its impact on a joint.

When the central nervous system senses joint instability, it reduces the ability to continue strengthening the muscles that are already too strong. This an effective safety mechanism the body utilizes to protect itself from injury.

However, this safety mechanism can be “overridden” by attempting to force the already too strong muscles to get even stronger — many injuries occur under these conditions. If you place more strain on the weakest link than it can tolerate, the chain breaks.

While unpredictable accidents will still occur, a thorough structural balance assessment can:

• Identify muscle weaknesses that leave a joint vulnerable to injury and compromise performance;
• Faulty movement patterns that cause misalignment of the body, which results in distorted movement;
• Muscle tightness that can result in strained or torn muscles, and;
• Provide the blueprint from which your initial training program is developed.

A structural balance assessment also provides a starting point for your training. Your initial training program is developed based on the results of your assessment and aimed at correcting your weaknesses, faulty movement patterns, and tight muscles through a progression of corrective and remedial exercises. This approach expedites your results and helps ensure continuous progress.

A thorough structural assessment should be the first step of anyone’s training program whether you are a competitive athlete from any level of competition, an avid CrossFitter, or someone who wants to look better and improve your health.

Excerpt from Athletic Strength Institute

Stuart McGill on Abdominal Training

The science of spine stability: Effective spine stabilization approaches must begin with a solid understanding of what stability is. From a spine perspective it has little to do with the ability to balance on a gym ball. This is simply the ability to maintain the body in balance which is important but does not address the unstable spine. In fact, in many instances the unstable spine is also flexion intolerant and with associated intolerance to compression. Sitting on an exercise ball performing movement exercises increases spine compression to a flexed spine. This retards progress – it is generally a poor choice of back exercise until quite late in a therapeutic progression. True spine stability is achieved with a “balanced” stiffening from the entire musculature including the rectus abdominis and the abdominal wall, quadratus lumborum, latissimus dorsi and the back extensors of longissimus, ilioicostalis and multifidus. Focusing on a single muscle generally does not enhance stability but creates patterns that when quantified result in less stability. It is impossible to train muscles such as transverse abdominis or multifidus in isolation – people cannot activate just these muscles. Do not perform abdominal hollowing techniques as it reduces the potential energy of the column causing it to fail at lower applied loads (McGill, 2009). Interestingly a recent clinical trial (Koumantakis et al, 2005) compared the efficacy of many of the exercises that I quantified and published in Physical Therapy (McGill 1998), with the same exercises combined with specific transverse abdominis isolation (hollowing etc.). Adding the specific transverse abdominis training reduced efficacy! Instead, the abdominal brace (contracting all abdominal muscles) enhances stability. Target contraction levels for bracing and training techniques are described in McGill (2006). Finally, some provocative tests, such as a shear test, will help reveal which classification of patient is best suited for a stabilization approach (Hicks et al, 2005).

Linking Anatomy with Function: Consider the usual and popular approach to train the abdominal wall muscles by performing situps or curl-ups over a gym ball for example. But consider the rectus abdominis where the contractile components are interrupted with transverse tendons giving the “six pack” look. The muscle is not designed for optimal length change but rather to function as a spring. Why have these transverse tendons in rectus abdominis? The reason is that when the abdominals contract, “hoop stresses” are formed by the oblique muscles that would split the rectus apart. In addition to the spring-like architecture of the muscle consider how it is used. People rarely flex the rib cage to the pelvis shortening the rectus in sport or everyday activity. Rather they stiffen the wall and load the hips or shoulders – if this is performed rapidly such as in a throw or movement direction change, the rectus functions as an elastic storage and recovery device. When lifting weights it stiffens to efficiently transmit the power generated at the hips through the torso. Those individuals who do actively flex the torso (think of cricket bowlers and gymnasts) are the ones who suffer with high rates of disc damage and pain. Now revisit the common training approach of curling the torso over a gym ball that replicates the injury mechanics while not creating the athleticism that enhances performance. This is a rather poor choice of exercise for most situations. Yet many clients will expect that a gymball be used. Play a trick on these clients and retain the gymball but change the exercise from a spine breaking curlup to a plank where the elbows are placed on the ball. Now “stir the pot” to enhance the spring and spare the spine – this is a much superior exercise for most people.

gluteal muscle activation retraining based primarily on the original work of Professor Janda has been honed in our own lab (see figure 4). This cannot be accomplished with traditional squat training (McGill, 2007). Chronic back pain tends to cause hip extension using the hamstrings and subsequent back extension using the spine extensors creating unnecessary crushing loads. Gluteal muscle reintegration helps to unload the back. 

Finally consider exercises such as the squat. Interestingly when we measure world class strongmen carrying weight, NFL footballers running planting the foot and cutting – neither of these are trained by the squat. This is because these exercises do not train the quadratus lumborum and abdominal obliques which are so necessary for these tasks. In contrast, spending less time under a bar squatting and redirecting some of this activity with asymmetric carries such as the farmers walk (or bottoms-up kettlebell carry – see figure 7) builds the athleticism needed for higher performance in these activities in a much more “spine friendly” way. The core is never a power generator as measuring the great athletes always shows that the power is generated in the hips and transmitted through the stiffened core. They use the torso muscles as anti-motion controllers, rarely motion generators (of course there are exceptions for throwers etc but the ones who create force pulses with larger deviations in spine posture are the ones who injure first). Many more progressions to enhance athleticism in a spine sparing way are provided in my text “Ultimate back fitness and performance”

A comment on Flat Feet:

When the arches of the feet collapse, a lot of bad things happen. First, consider that the arch of the foot is supposed to flex and absorb shock. If the arch is flat, the foot lacks shock absorbency, and stress is transferred to the knees, hips, and lower back. This is why many of the advertisements for orthotics claim that they can resolve back pain.

With fallen arches, the bones of the ankle are not optimally aligned with the foot, increasing the risk of ankle injuries. According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, approximately one million people in the US are treated for ankle injuries every year. It’s also estimated that athletes who injure an ankle are five times more likely to injure that ankle again.

Fallen arches also cause the bones of both the upper legs and lower legs to internally rotate. This rotation increases stress on the ACL. The ACL is a ligament that connects the upper and lower leg bones and provides stability to the knee, making the ACL critical for dynamic movements. Approximately 300,000 ACL injuries occur annually in the US, and the risk of injury is greater to athletes and women. Also consider that only 30 percent of ACL injuries are a result of direct contact, which suggests that an important step to preventing ACL injuries is to address the structure and function of the foot.

Another consequence of fallen arches is that the inward rotation of the upper legs increases the arch in the lower back, a condition technically referred to as lumbar hyperlordosis. Lumber hyperlordosis reduces the ability of the spine to absorb shock. The result is an increased risk of back injury and pain.

The most common method of correcting flat feet is orthotics. Orthotics don’t permanently correct fallen arches – they only work while the user is wearing them. Also, the pressure of the orthotic on the arch can also cause the arch to become weaker.

Solutions include corrective exercises to strengthen muscles that support the arch. One such muscle is the extensor hallucis longus, which creates lateral tension on the foot and also strengthens and stretches the two major calf muscles (gastrocnemius and soleus).

Getting the Most Out of Your Workout

Pre-workout supplements have never been more popular. They provide you with increased energy and endurance for your workout; however, there are several issues to consider when choosing the best approach for yourself or your patients.

One of the most important things to consider when evaluating your options is that many popular pre-workout supplements are loaded with stimulants. There is nothing wrong with a little caffeine, but most of the pre-workout products on the market contain as much caffeine as five cups of coffee. In addition, many also contain food dyes and artificial sweeteners, with most powders being sweetened with sucralose. While food manufacturing companies and global health authorities have deemed sucralose safe for consumption, most health care providers know that this is not the case. According to a recent study in theJournal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, sucralose is a biologically active compound that decreases the number and balance of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract; causes epithelial scarring, the depletion of goblet cells and glandular disorganization in the colon; and alters insulin, blood glucose, and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) levels.1 

I started weight training 16 years ago and have been a competitive powerlifter for the past four years. I know the importance of nutrients for supporting focus, energy, and endurance. The challenge is finding good, health-promoting products that do not have excessive amounts of caffeine, while also being free of artificial sweeteners and food dyes.

These are some nutrients that I have personally found to be effective and safe to take prior to training: 

Creatine has been heavily researched for the past 20 years and is ideal for people who are sensitive to stimulants. Creatine supplementation can increase tissue concentrations of this nutrient to a level that is unobtainable through the diet alone. However, it is important to use a creatine supplement in a stabilized, alkaline form so it does not raise creatinine (a metabolite of creatine). Many of the side effects of taking high-dose creatine supplementation are not from the creatine itself, but are actually from creatinine.

Acetyl L-carnitine is one of the most extensively researched brain nutrients with a proven ability to enhance mental energy. Most people associate acetyl L-carnitine with preventing age-related memory decline and slowing Alzheimer's; however, it is also very effective when used pre-workout for increasing mental focus and energy.

Glycerophosphocholine (GPC) is an activated form of choline that crosses the blood brain barrier. GPC is another brain nutrient commonly used for age-related brain conditions and brain recovery from stroke or trauma. GPC also has other benefits, such as enhancing growth hormone secretion. According to a study in Nutrition, plasma growth hormone secretion was increased significantly 60 minutes after taking GPC, whereas no significant change was observed with the placebo.2

L-Arginine is a non-essential amino acid that is important for many cellular functions. It is a precursor to nitric oxide, which increases blood flow, thereby raising the supply of oxygen and nutrients to muscles.

Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) provide a great energy source for weight lifters. MCTs are quickly converted into energy, sparing amino acids from being used as fuel. This is essential for athletes restricting their carbohydrate intake, intermittent fasting, carb back-loading, or following the "warrior diet.”

Caffeine is definitely beneficial but not a lot is needed to get the job done. It also depends on the time of day that you are training. I prefer to mix coconut oil in tea (coffee may be preferable to many, but I myself do not drink coffee) prior to training. A good alternative is to use an MCT oil supplement containing coconut and palm oils.

Choosing the right supplements can have a large impact on what you are able to get out of your workouts, but sifting through the stimulants, dyes and unhealthy sweeteners can be discouraging. This list presents safe and beneficial nutrients that support athletic performance, as well as some brain nutrients that are often not thought of when formulating a pre-workout regimen, yet can be extremely helpful for focus and mental energy in athletes.  I can honestly say that I feel and see the difference in my workouts now.

by Michael Jurgelewicz, DC, DACBN, DCBCN