Amy Lanou - Building Bone Vitality: A Revolutionary Diet Plan to Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis--Without Dairy Foods, Calcium, Estrogen, or Drugs

A Revolutionary Diet Plan to
Prevent Bone Loss and Reverse Osteoporosis

Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D.
Michael Castleman

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THIS BOOK WILL CHANGE the way you think about bone density and osteoporosis. The weakening of bones is often viewed as a calcium deficiency, when actually its an imbalance between calcium intake and excretion.

As nutrition professor Amy Joy Lanou, Ph.D., and noted medical journalist Michael Castleman eloquently reveal, diets rich in animal protein, including meat and dairy, add acid to the blood. This acid accelerates osteoporosis by depleting bones of calcium, phosphorus, and sodium.

As the authors recommend, the most effective way to prevent bone loss is a combination of daily walking and what they call low-acid eatingthat is, predominantly fruits, vegetables, legumes, and soy productswith little, if any, meat, dairy, and fish and a modest amount of breads, cereals, and pastas.

For more than thirty years I have directed a series of clinical studies in collaboration with my colleagues at the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and the University of California, San Francisco, showing that a similar regimen (when combined with stress management techniques such as yoga and meditation and psychosocial support) can often stop or even reverse the progression of coronary heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia), prostate cancer (and, by extension, breast cancer), and other chronic diseases.

Many people believe that advances in medicine have to be high-tech and expensive. In our studies, we have used the latest high-tech medical technology to prove how powerful a plant-based diet, moderate daily exercise, and other simple, low-tech, low-cost interventions can be.

Its no coincidence that the program I recommend to prevent or even reverse coronary heart disease and other chronic diseases also helps prevent osteoporosis. Its the same program the National Cancer Institute recommends to prevent the most common types of cancer and that many other health authorities endorse for optimal health and well-being. The body is an elegant biological system. Whats good for one part of itfor example, the heart and blood vesselsis also good for other parts, such as strengthening bone and helping to protect against fractures.

Lanou and Castleman have analyzed more than twelve hundred studies showing that (1) the United States and other countries that consume the most milk, dairy, and calcium have the worlds highest fractures rates; (2) milk, dairy foods, and calcium supplements do not reduce fracture risk and in some studies increase it; and (3) a diet high in fruits and vegetables consistently improves bone mineral density and reduces fractures.

If you follow their advice, youre likely to reduce your risk of osteoporosis and fractures as well as enhancing your overall health and well-being. I wholeheartedly recommend Building Bone Vitality.

Dean Ornish, M.D.

Founder and President, Preventive Medicine Research Institute Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Author, Dr. Dean Ornishs Program for Reversing Heart Disease and The Spectrum

THE AUTHORS GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE and thank:

Their agent, Amy Rennert, and everyone at the Amy Rennert Literary Agency, Tiburon, California

Their editors, Emily Carleton, Nancy Hall, Johanna Bowman, and Deborah Brody, and everyone at McGraw-Hill

Their families and friends, who graciously put up with their bone obsession during the writing of this book

And Neal Barnard, M.D.; T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D.; Simon Chaitowitz; Sophie Mills, Ph.D.; Dean Ornish, M.D.; Barbara Ramsey, M.D.; Keith Ray, Ed.D.; Anne Simons, M.D.; Louanne Cole Weston, Ph.D.; and Tania Winzenberg, Ph.D.