All Posts Tagged With: "Calcium"

Dr. Gordon comments on magnesium

Linda comments:  Magnesium is so very important to all of us and especially those with chronic illness.  Dr Garry Gordon, DO, MD, MD(h)  speaks about levels and requirements…

A: Dear Doctor:

It appears to me that one mg of MAGNESIUM is so low as to not be meaningful. I am sending you the Google link so you can do your own analysis but I like to administer LOTS of magnesium; for example, 500 mg to one gram so that appears to require several ampoules. I suggest that you give 4 to 8 ampoules. You can now calculate the calcium but I always prefer a little bit more magnesium than calcium in my patients oral and even in IV.

The Google link if you want to study this matter further is:

http://www.google.com/#q=meq%20of%20magnesium%2Bmilligram&nfpr=1&ei=dZnSTb24F5KcgQfh3aDcCw&sqi=2&start=0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=ecbf8a9c27052cf6

1. Magnesium Conversions
Feb 13, 2002 … A conversion table for magnesium equivalents. … 1 10-ml ampule 50% MgSO4 = 5 grams Mg = 40.6 mEq Mg. 1 gram Mg = 8.12 mEq Mg …
www.mgwater.com/convert.shtml – Cached – Similar
 
2. Calcium, Phosphate and Magnesium Replacement
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – Quick View
Calcium, Phosphate and Magnesium Replacement. I. Calcium (25 mEq = 500 mg elemental calcium). A. Parenteral Calcium Salts. Calcium chloride …
chn.im.wustl.edu/NutritionSupport/…/Calcium_Phos_Mag.pdf – Similar

3. Magnesium Supplementation – Health Care Professionals
Mg Chloride (Slow-Mag®), 535 mg, 64 mg (5.33 mEq). Mg Hydroxide (MOM) (1200 mg / 15 mL) … Mg lactate (Mag-Tab SR), 84 mg (7 mEq) (start with 14 mEq bid) …
www.globalrph.com/magnesium_supplements.htm – Cached – Similar

4. MAGNESIUM SULFATE – Intravenous (IV) Dilution
1 gram = 8.12 meq. Maximum rate: 1 gram/ 7 minutes. Normal range:1.5 to 2.5 …
www.globalrph.com/magnesium_dilution.htm – Cached – Similar
Show more results from globalrph.com

Sincerely,

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Fascinating info on Vitamin D & Hypothyrodism

Linda’s comments”  DIET is everything…..we are what we eat….VitD plays an important factor in our wellness journey….it is a MUST…..when you have a chronic illness this is one test that you should insist that your doctors run on you….while you are at it also ask for a B12- and Magnesium level too.

Dr. G’s comments:

Why are our tissues so calcified when we age? What has vitamin D got to do with it???

I have lectured on this for over 35 years now and we all suffer a tendency toward secondary hyperparathyroidism. This is because our SAD diet supplies on average 1400 mg of phosphorus and only 800 mg of calcium. This stresses our endocrine system and we get secondary hyperparathyroidism, as a result that leads to weak bones and hard calcified arteries. See text and CALCIPHYLAXIS by Hans Selye published by Univ of Chicago Press.

What this article shows you is that higher levels of vitamin D clearly help overcome this serious but nearly epidemic Endocrine condition. Vitamin D then can lead to less bone pathology and if bones are better mineralized, less of the calcium will wind up in blood vessels and you can achieve better blood vessel elasticity.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://www.nhiondemand.com/hsjarticle.aspx?id=987&utm_source=NHI+OnDemand+Newsletter+List&utm_campaign=49b87e5f60-HSJ_Jan18_2011&utm_medium=email

Excerpt:

“Hyperthyroidism” is when the thyroid gland is overactive instead of underactive. It secretes too much thyroid hormone. In this case, more of a good thing is definitely not better. Excess thyroid hormone can cause rapid heartbeat. Body temperature is elevated. The hyperthyroid individual may experience extreme weight loss, in spite of a huge appetite, because they burn up calories too fast. Hyperthyroidism can make a person nervous, emotionally unstable, and unable to sleep.

The Vitamin D Newsletter

How much calcium do we need and does excess cause harm? This Vitamin D newsletter is always reviewing the latest information. It is worth reading the research on Calcium.

We all get about 800 mg from our average diet and we get about 1400 mg of phosphorus so I give enough calcium (500 mg) in Beyond Any Multiple and in Beyond Chelation-Improved to avoid SECONDARY HYPERPARATHYROIDISM. Also I insist on giving 500 mg of Magnesium (with B-6) to help tame the calcium (i.e. a calcium channel blocker effect) whenever I give any calcium, which is almost never more than the 500 mg in BAM.

Of course, with the research on vitamin D we almost all need more than we get and with the fact that we are all living longer, who wants calcified vascular tissues and resulting hypertension, so we also need K-2.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com  

Excerpt:

Quest Diagnostics and Cardiovascular Disease
This is a periodic newsletter from the Vitamin D Council, a non-profit trying to end the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency. If you want to unsubscribe, go to the end of this newsletter. If you are not subscribed, you can do so on the Vitamin D Council’s website. 
The Annals of Internal Medicine published two important reviews this month. In the first review, Dr. Anastassios Pittas and colleagues from Tufts University reviewed 106 articles and combined the 32 quality studies, a meta-analysis, looking at “cardiometabolic” outcomes such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Their conclusion: “Lower vitamin D status seems to be associated with increased risk for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, but we do not yet know whether vitamin D supplements will affect clinical outcomes.” Read on.

Pittas AG, et al. Systematic review: Vitamin D and cardiometabolic outcomes. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Mar 2;152(5):307-14.
The second Annals of Internal Medicine review, by Dr. Lu Wang and colleagues at Harvard, looked at studies of vitamin D supplementation and found two randomized placebo controlled trials to combine. Dozens of different types of studies have looked at vitamin D and cardiovascular outcomes. The latitude studies are clear, the closer you live to the equator, the less cardiovascular disease. The dietary studies are mixed, because vitamin D is not contained in the diet, at least in significant amounts.  The epidemiological studies are clear.

Wang L, et al. Systematic review: Vitamin D and calcium supplementation in prevention of cardiovascular events. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Mar 2;152(5):315-23.
Dr. Wang concluded, “To date, evidence from prospective observational studies and randomized controlled trials suggests that vitamin D supplementation at moderate to high doses may have beneficial effects on reducing the risk for cardiovascular disease.” 
About the same time that the two above meta-analyses were published, Dr. Brent Muhlestein, director of cardiovascular research at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, Utah, presented a paper at this year’s American College of Cardiology’s annual scientific session in Atlanta. 

Calcium Supplements & Cardiovascular Events

Please stop patients from using massive doses of calcium now. The patients all have too much calcium in vascular tissue and now we have data showing that giving calcium is increasing heart disease. And, if possible, try to always administer calcium supplementation with EQUAL AMOUNTS of MAGNESIUM, as I have been teaching for over 20 years now.

Also please realize I use calcium in well over 90 % of my patients. It is in BAM, my multiple called Beyond Any Multiple. I usually never use more than 500 mg of calcium a day for my long-term patients, as that is all most will need since that is the amount we need to offset the excess of phosphorus over calcium in the American diet. This amount will help lower the tendency for the body to develop secondary hyperparathyroidism, which is how the body responds to a chronic dietary intake of more phosphorus than calcium.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com 

Excerpt:
Results 15 trials were eligible for inclusion, five with patient level data (8151 participants, median follow-up 3.6 years, interquartile range 2.7-4.3 years) and 11 with trial level data (11 921 participants, mean duration 4.0 years). In the five studies contributing patient level data, 143 people allocated to calcium had a myocardial infarction compared with 111 allocated to placebo (hazard ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.02 to 1.67, P=0.035). Non-significant increases occurred in the incidence of stroke (1.20, 0.96 to 1.50, P=0.11), the composite end point of myocardial infarction, stroke, or sudden death (1.18, 1.00 to 1.39, P=0.057), and death (1.09, 0.96 to 1.23, P=0.18). The meta-analysis of trial level data showed similar results: 296 people had a myocardial infarction (166 allocated to calcium, 130 to placebo), with an increased incidence of myocardial infarction in those allocated to calcium (pooled relative risk 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.59, P=0.038). 

Conclusions Calcium supplements (without coadministered vitamin D) are associated with an increased risk of myocardial infarction. As calcium supplements are widely used these modest increases in risk of cardiovascular disease might translate into a large burden of disease in the population. A reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in the management of osteoporosis is warranted.

Bisphosphonates and bone strength

Longevity Plus had effective answers to osteoporosis with their Beyond Bone, H.R.T. Plus and Beyond Any Multiple but the public will prefer the subsidized poisons offered under our health care system, unless you educate them about the dangers from bisphosphonates like Fosamax.

My focus in antiaging medicine has been to have soft arteries and hard bones at 90 and since I used to be in radiology I could always see the calcified outline of the aorta. Of course with bone density tests finding at least 50% of women by age 50 have bone loss, it is great market for the useless but FDA approved drugs that are doing real damage.

We used to see bones look really dense if the patient was given Fluoride treatment, yet that was not healthy bone but again for years doctors believed that was a good treatment too.

I am amazed at how strong the bones of my elderly patients are when using BAM, but preferably Beyond Chelation-Improved, as getting the lead out of bones aids this process of healthy bone repair that H.R.T. Plus and Beyond Bone induce.

Your patients are not being told the true story on benefit to risk ratio. They are being set up for increased risk of fractures in areas that seldom break, lesions in the jaw known as jaw death, esophageal ulcerations and cancer, and double the risk of Atrial Fibrillation.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Full article: http://www.healthwatchersnews.com/2010/02/bisphosphonates-bone-strengtheners-or-bone-hardeners/

Excerpt:

Bisphosphonates are now the most widely marketed and prescribed patented, FDA-approved anti-osteoporosis drugs. Bisphosphonates mimic, to some extent, the effects of estrogen on bone in that they work by inhibiting bone resorption [the process by which old bone is removed to make room for new bone]. However, like estrogen, these drugs have no ability to build new bone.

Currently FDA-approved bisphosphonates, including Fosamax (alendronate), Actonel (risedronate), Didronel (etidronate), Boniva (ibandronate), and Reclast (Zometa) (zoledronate), are designed to strengthen bone by inhibiting normal osteoclastic bone resorbing activity, which slows the loss of bone mineral density (BMD), allowing the trabecular architecture to stabilize. Notice that this has nothing to do with stabilizing the balance between estrogen and progesterone, restoring calcium levels, or any other natural process.

Like many other patented drugs, bisphosphonates are synthetic analogs of an important natural bone-building chemical, pyrophosphate, which normally helps bind calcium to bone tissue through a process known as mineralization. Unlike pyrophosphate, however, bisphosphonates actually block normal mineralization as well as osteoclastic bone resorption.

Large, placebo-controlled trials generally show that these drugs can indeed increase BMD and reduce the risk of vertebral, hip, and other nonvertebral fractures in women with osteoporosis—at least in the short run. That’s the good news. Merck, the company that markets the leading bisphosphonate, Fosamax (now also sold generically as alendronate), seized upon results like these to turn its drug into a blockbuster worth as much as $3.6 billion per year. Use of Fosamax and other bisphosphonates has been growing at an especially rapid rate since 2002, when the publication of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) results scared women away from “estrogen” replacement, which until then had been the leading conventional method for preventing osteoporosis.

Unfortunately, all may not be so rosy after all. Trials lasting up to 10 years are beginning to raise doubts about the long-term safety and efficacy of bisphosphonates. The main problem is that bisphosphonates not only directly—and unnaturally—inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption, they also indirectly inhibit the other side of the bone-building coin, osteoblastic bone formation.