Blog Posts

Decrease Your Risk of Osteoporosis

11/6/2019

Are you one of the 1.4 million Canadians who will develop osteoporosis? If you are over 50 and a woman, you have a 1 in 4 chance of developing it. If you’re a man, it’s a 1 in 8 chance. But no matter how old you are, it’s never too early or too late to think about lowering your risk.

Simply put, osteoporosis is a bone disease that happens when your body loses more bone than it’s making, or when it isn’t making enough bone, or both. When this happens, your bones lose density, weaken, and are more likely to break.

Having many risk factors doesn’t mean you will develop osteoporosis, but the greater the level of each risk factor, the greater your chance of developing the disease.

Risk factors you cannot control
The more risk factors you have that you can’t control, such as your age, sex or ethnicity, the more you need to focus on the ones that are within your control.

Age - people over the age of 50 are at greater risk of falls regardless of their bone density.
Sex - being female poses a greater risk than being male (sorry, ladies!).
Ethnicity - Caucasian and Asian populations have a higher risk.
Family - If one of your parents has broken a hip, you are more likely to have a bone fracture, regardless of your bone density.
Fracture history - if you’ve broken a bone before, you’re twice as likely to experience another break.
Endocrine diseases - Diagnoses that involve the endocrine system such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and hyperparathyroidism.
Corticosteroids - long term steroid use is linked to a higher risk of fractures.

Risk factors that are challenging to control
For many, these risk factors will be out of your control, but for others there are ways you can reduce the level of each risk factor. A great example of this is for someone who is Celiac to strictly avoid gluten exposure and to consciously work on healing their gut, which will in turn help them absorb nutrients from their food.

Gastrointestinal diagnoses - Conditions such as Celiac disease and Inflammatory bowel disease can lead to malabsorption of the nutrients needed to build strong bones.
Eating disorders - Poor nutrition and low body mass index are associated with poor bone density.
Hormonal status - if you’re post-menopausal or have had a hysterectomy, you have a higher risk due to low estrogen levels.
Andropause - Just as declining estrogen levels put women at risk, reduced testosterone levels reduces bone density in men.
Medications - There’s a long list of medications that affect bone health, the most common of which are over the counter antacids and proton pump inhibitors.

Risk factors you can control Feel empowered by the things you can control.
There is a lot you can do to mitigate the fixed risks we’ve listed above.

Give up smoking - Smoking when young inhibits maximum bone mass development, and accelerates bone density loss as we age.
Reduce alcohol consumption - It can deplete your calcium reserves, inhibit your ability to absorb calcium from your food, increases your cortisol levels, and reduce formation and increase bone breakdown.
Address vitamin D deficiency - Vitamin D helps you absorb calcium from your food. Eat more calcium - Calcium is an important mineral that helps keep your bones strong.
Truehope BMD - Supports the development and maintenance of healthy bones. Resistance exercise - Exercise that forces you to work against gravity strengthens not only your muscles but your bones too!
Balance exercises - Safely working on your balance can help reduce your risk of falling.
Cut out carbonated beverages - Soft drinks leach calcium from your bones.
Support stomach acid - Adequate stomach acid levels are essential for proper digestion of all the nutrients needed to build healthy bones.
Reduce caffeine consumption - Caffeine leaches calcium from your bones.
Avoid refined sugars - Elevated insulin levels and insulin resistance can increase your risk of osteoporosis by causing calcium loss in your urine.
Manage stress - Chronically raised cortisol levels can lead to insulin resistance.

It can be overwhelming to see such a huge list of things that will increase your risk of developing osteoporosis! Don’t worry, we’ll be delving deeper into some of these preventative measures as we progress through this month. In the meantime, we encourage you to get started by picking just one thing to implement. Whether it’s reducing the sweet treats you’re enjoying, or cutting out coffee after lunch, making a small but successful step towards your goal makes everything that follows much easier!

Do Antidepressants Decrease Your Risk of Suicide?

10/30/2019

It’s logical to assume that antidepressants might reduce the risk of someone committing suicide. It’s also logical to assume that by increasing the number of antidepressant prescriptions in the general population, you would reduce the number of suicides. If half the people who commit suicide suffer from depression, and if people with depression are at a higher risk of suicide, you can assume this might be true, right?

A recent Swedish study decided to investigate whether or not this was indeed true. They decided to look into whether or not young women (15-24 years old) who had committed suicide in Sweden had been taking antidepressants. They looked into the extent the young women took the medications, and whether they had been taking them before or at the time of suicide.

Larsson, the researcher, wanted to know if prescribing more antidepressants would actually reduce the number of suicides.

Between 1999 and 2013, the number of women prescribed antidepressants increased in Sweden from 1.4% to 5%. This means that in 15 years, antidepressant prescriptions increased by 270%.

Remember, the assumption has always been that antidepressants decrease the number of deaths by suicide, so this should have decreased the number of deaths.

During this time 500 women committed suicide. The post mortem and toxicology reports revealed that the increase in the prescription of antidepressants, aligned with an increase in the number of suicides over the same time period.

The study found that as the number of antidepressant prescriptions increased, so did the number of suicides in young women:

- In 1999-2003, 23% of young women who committed suicide had been under the influence of antidepressants.
- In 2009-2013, 39% of young women who committed suicide had been under the influence of antidepressants.
- More than half (52%) of the young women who committed suicide had been prescribed antidepressants within the last year of their life.
- The antidepressants (and other psychotropic medications) were found in the blood streams of 41% of them, meaning they were under the influence of antidepressants at the time of their death.

This study found that the common assumption that antidepressants decrease suicide rates to be incorrect (in the young women studied at least).

We know that this news is frightening, yet we don’t recommend suddenly stopping your antidepressants or other psychotropic medications. If you are concerned, please speak with your doctor, and your personal support system.

You can also connect with our Micronutrient Support Services who are highly trained, and have helped over 100,000 people since 1996 reduce or come off their psychotropic medications while avoiding the unpleasant side effects.

If you’re concerned about a loved one, spend time with them and ask them how they are doing. We have a blog post that will help you prepare for that conversation. It’s also important to know the signs that someone is considering suicide, and to know what you can do to help them.

In an emergency, do not leave the person on their own, and always call 9-1-1 or go to your local emergency department.

Is Your Depression Caused by Your Thyroid?

10/23/2019

According to the Thyroid Foundation of Canada, thyroid disorders are found in 0.8 - 5% of the population. Hypothyroidism specifically, affects over 2% of Canadians and many more go undiagnosed.

When we suffer from hypothyroidism, all our metabolic processes in the body “slow down”. This brings symptoms like feeling cold, weight gain, coarse skin, dry and brittle hair, muscle weakness, poor memory, and depression which we’ll focus on today.

A huge 38% of older people (age 60-79) with hypothyroidism reported symptoms of depression. It’s not just people with an official diagnosis either. People with subclinical hypothyroidism - a condition where your hormone levels are still within your doctors “normal” range, yet outside of “optimal functioning” ranges - may also be more vulnerable to depression than the general population. Over their lifetime, 56% of people with subclinical hypothyroidism suffer from depression, compared to 20% who do not have a thyroid problem.

These statistics reveal that treating the thyroid, the root cause, is often an effective way to treat depression. In Canada however, if your doctor suspects you have a thyroid problem they will test your Thyroid Stimulating Hormone test (TSH). Unfortunately, you can still have hypothyroid symptoms even when your TSH results are “normal”, making it hard to convince your doctor to help you.

According to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, “The diagnosis of subclinical or clinical hypothyroidism must be considered in every patient with depression”.

Identify if your thyroid is the root cause of your symptoms of depression, then:

- Ensure you’re getting the essential nutrients you need to support your thyroid such as iodine, selenium, zinc, iron, vitamin A, and vitamin D.
- Support your thyroid with Truehope Nascent Iodine Advanced which is needed to build your thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3).
- Get enough amino-acids in your diet, maybe with Truehope Freeminos, to support brain health and T4 and T3 production.
- Manage your stress levels to lower your levels of the hormone Reverse T3 (rT3), which negates the hard work of your hormone T3.
- Support your mood with Truehope EMP, our micronutrient formula studied for it’s mood-stabilizing effects.
- And get gentle exercise to help with the immediate symptoms of depression.

It’s important to remember that mental health symptoms do not happen in isolation, there is always a root cause, and tackling this root cause is the best way to resolve any health issue.

Do You Believe Scientific Studies or Your Own Experience?

10/16/2019

Fake news! Raise your hand if you’ve heard this term in the last couple of years!

There has been a rise, and consequent push back, against factually incorrect news of late. Sometimes it can be hard to know who to trust.

The concept of fake news has spilled over into science too, providing an even bigger push to ensure health claims are backed up by scientific research studies. This is a good thing, but if you’ve read our recent article Why Don’t More Psychiatrists Prescribe Micronutrients? you’ll know that it’s not always that simple.

Today we’re going to dig a little deeper and help you navigate the world of health science.

A scientific research study is a process of discovery that researchers undergo to learn something new about a topic. They begin with a “hypothesis” (a tentative idea or problem), and their goal is to run experiments to observe and test their hypothesis. The goal is to do this without a particular result or bias in mind, just to be open to what happens and to learn from it. When the study is concluded the researchers can either confirm, reject, or modify their hypothesis. The results of one study may then generate a direction of further study.

As you might imagine, there are many ways to run a study. Each one has a different purpose, and a different mix of strengths and weaknesses. Some are more robust scientifically, some take years to complete or are very expensive, some are quantitative (numerical) while others are qualitative (non-numerical) or a combination of both. Some are intended as a quick snapshot to help guide more in-depth study, others study thousands of people over decades of their lives.

The studies done on Truehope EMP are a mix of: Double-blind placebo controlled: When neither the researchers running the trial, nor the participants know who is taking the treatment under investigation or the placebo. This means there is no room for bias, and provided the strongest evidence making the gold standard study design. They are expensive so many other studies will be done before advancing to this kind.

Randomized controlled trial: Participants are randomly assigned to the group receiving the treatment under investigation, or to a group receiving the placebo. The group receiving the placebo is also known as the control group which allows comparison of results between those taking and not taking the treatment. This helps avoid selection bias which could affect results.

Case studies: A detailed study of an individual or a small group of individuals, and usually quantitative in nature. It’s used to explore and describe a particular phenomenon, such as following the progress of an individual with Bipolar Disorder. Case studies may be used to guide more substantial research in the future.

Open label: When both the researchers running the trial, and the participants know who is taking the treatment under investigation or the placebo. It is often used to compare the efficacy of two different treatments, and the participants know what treatment they are taking. In some cases this might be less effective, in others there’s a reason for participants to know what their treatment is such as being chosen for a study because they already are using a particular medication.

Reversal design: When participants take the treatment under investigation for a set period of time, then they switch to the placebo (or another treatment) for the same amount of time, then return to the treatment under investigation (and vice versa).

Anecdotal information - This is your personal experience, or when someone has told a researcher their personal experience. Anecdotal information has value when the researcher starts hearing the same reports from different people, which can suggest a line of inquiry to pursue.

In addition to the many kinds of study designs out there, there’s considerable nuance, context, and confounding factors that must be considered too! Is the study independent or is it funded by the company who developed the medication? Who does the researcher work for, or have ties to (now or in the past)? Where is there potential for bias?

You must also consider if the money exists to study something. For example huge pharmaceutical companies will put billions of dollars into studies, meaning they are not independent studies and have a high risk of bias. They also have strategic plans to recoup their money. That level of financial investment does not exist for holistic solutions.

Just because something has not been studied, does not mean it won’t work for you. Just because a product has been subject to smaller studies, and not studied on thousands of people doesn’t mean it won’t work for you. Equally, just because a treatment has been well studied on a population level and is well accepted, doesn’t mean it will work for you as an individual.

Which brings us to your personal experience, does it matter? Can it be trusted in the world of science? Your personal experience is valid, but remember that just because you have an experience doesn’t mean someone else will, and vice-versa.

Take an interest in where your health information is coming from, inform yourself on how the researchers reached their conclusions. Scrutinize their methods, follow the money, listen to the experts, then think for yourself. Treat yourself as your own scientific study, and trust the response your body gives you.

Author

We want to provide nothing but the highest quality information and advice for our followers to improve their health, which is why at Truehope Canada, we're happy to say our writer is a Certified Life Coach and Registered Holistic Nutritionist.
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