Ultra Bone-Up - Reduces Calcium Loss from Bones

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• Naturally derived lycopene has shown remarkable results in protecting prostate, skin and heart health

• Provides Calcium from 100% Microcrystalline hydroxyapatite • Includes Mk-7, Bio-Available Vitamin K Shown to Support Bone Health • Supplies MSM as an Organic Sulfur Source • Supports the Bone Matrix with Glucosamine • Incorporates Curcumin to Reduce Osteoclast Activation and SDG Flax Lignan as a Source of Healthful Phytoestrogens • Is the Complete Supplement for Maintaining Bone Density

Start with the Best Source of Calcium...

Jarrow FORMULAS® Ultra Bone-Up® is the most complete nutritional regimen available for healthy bones and joints. It starts with calcium from Australian bovine bone –– hydroxyapatite –– and then adds other nutrients to achieve the best possible synergism. No other formula is more advanced. No other formula is more complete with the nutrients that count!

Ultra Bone-Up® uses the finest source of calcium available: Australian bovine bone from chemical-free, range-grazed young cattle less than two years old. (Bones from veal calves are never used.) This natural calcium source is hydroxyapatite, the same form of calcium found in human bone tissue. Moreover, hydroxyapatite is bovine bone that has not been ashed (heated to a high temperature), which is the process used to make most bone meal. High heat increases the net calcium content, but the special proteins and other compounds are burned off. Non-ashed bone meal, i.e., hydroxyapatite, has been proven in clinical trials to increase bone mass.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the form of calcium actually found in bone tissue. It produces a more prolonged calcium balance than do soluble calcium salts. It can cause the bone osteoblasts (bone forming cells) to become receptive to its components and to build bone tissue. HA provides both the organic and the inorganic constituents found in bone: hydroxyapatite microcrystals are made of calcium, phosphorous, oxygen and hydrogen; the trace minerals zinc, strontium, silicon and iron; and proteins, amino acids and aminoglycans. It has been proposed that the bone-building process is enhanced by the presence of the proteins (the organic matrix) or that the microcrystalline structure provides a large surface area from which the minerals may be released from the organic matrix in the intestines.

…Add Natural Protectors

Ultra Bone-Up® does not stop simply with supplying the best source of calcium. It includes appropriate amounts of the vitamins C and D3, plus, for added synergism, a special form of vitamin K. Inadequate levels of vitamin C (and magnesium), paradoxically, can result in the over-calcification of bone tissue and the breakdown of the internal structure of bones. Thus, calcium supplementation usually requires adequate vitamin C, magnesium and protein. Vitamin C is essential for the formation of collagen, the connective tissue that makes bones strong and flexible instead of brittle. Vitamin D, especially in its prohormone form as D3, is critical for the absorption of dietary calcium. Vitamin K is used to synthesize osteocalcin, a protein unique to bone. Osteocalcin acts as a matrix on which calcium ions form crystals. Other major nutrients that have been found to contribute to bone health are also included. These nutrients include Magnesium, Zinc, Manganese, Copper, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B12, Folic Acid and Boron.

Ultra Bone-Up® goes on to add MSM and glucosamine to support the synthesis of the organic matrix around which bone is formed. Curcumin is included because it has been shown to reduce the activation of the osteoclasts, the cells that tear down bone. SDG Flax Lignans are included because they activate the osteobasts, the cells that build bone.

MK-7 and Natto: The Japanese Secret for Bone Health

Some foods protect against bone loss. Women in East Asian countries are known to have far lower rates of hip fracture than women in the United States and Europe despite consuming only one third to one half the calcium of women in Western societies and using very little hormone replacement therapy. Superior bone health is found in Northern Asia, especially in some areas of Japan. Consumption of various legumes, such as soybeans, accounts for some of the differences in bone health between Western and Asian societies, but it turns out that there is more to the picture than that. The Japanese secret is natto, a traditional Japanese food that is made from fermented soybeans. Women consuming natto exhibit significantly higher bone mineral density and fewer osteoporotic fractures.

Natto is a source of menaquinone-7 (MK-7), a very special form of vitamin K also known as K2. In a clinical study conducted in Europe that compared the results in women supplementing with either vitamin K1 or K2 (MK-7), researchers drew these conclusions regarding Natto K2 compared with K1.

• Circulating under-carboxylated osteocalcin (a marker for hip fracture risk) was decreased much more by K2 than by K1.

• The ratio between carboxylated and under-carboxylated osteocalcin (this ratio is a marker for bone vitamin K status) was improved similarly by both forms of vitamin K, although in the case of K1 a clear plateau was reached, whereas in the case of K2 the curve was still rising after six weeks of administration.

• The data suggest that K2, but not K1, contributes to decreasing bone turnover. Since high bone turnover is a strong risk factor for accelerated bone loss, it seems that K2 has a second protective effect on bone not found with K1.

Supporting the Bone Matrix

Ultra Bone-Up®, unlike most other “bone” formulas, recognizes that osteoporosis may be favorably influenced by supplementation with MSM (methylsulfonylmethane, also known as biological or physiological sulfur)) and glucosamine because the internal matrix of the bone itself depends upon a collagen webbing. All connective and hard tissue conditions depend upon the production of collagen, proteoglycans (PG) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Perhaps 50% of all the collagen protein of the body is found in the bones. Another way of viewing bone tissue is to see it as mineralized connective tissue. Glucosamine and MSM provide the two most crucial nutrients needed for the synthesis of the bone matrix consisting of collagen, PG and GAGs.

Curcumin and SDG Flax Lignans versus Bone Turnover

Bone turnover is largely linked to the activities of cells known as osteoclasts, which are opposed by the osteoblasts, which build bone. Although all tissues, including bone, must be replaced on a regular basis, excessive activity by the osteoclasts leads to a weakening and thinning of the bones. Aging slowly moves the balance in favor of the osteoclasts and against the obsteoblasts. The process should remain in check, yet a variety of factors can tip the scales toward destruction. One of these is excessive immune activity. Numerous studies have indicated that the inflammatory cytokines play a major role in osteoclastogenesis, the process that leads to the bone resorption. Curcumin, a yellow pigment found in turmeric which colors curries, in a recent experiment was found to strongly inhibit the production of new osteoclasts. This finding supports one of the traditional associations found with curcumin consumption, which is better bone and joint health.

Flax is another food traditionally associated with bone health. The activity appears to be linked to what are know as lignans. Lignans are a group of fiber-like molecules that are found in plants, especially the seeds, that effectively bind toxins found in the gastrointestinal tract. Lignans are especially abundant in flaxseed, with some authorities estimating that flax contains up to 800 times as much of these items as do other food sources.

However, flax lignans are far more than just fiber. Lignans are phytoestrogens, that is, plant compounds which weakly resemble estrogens, the female sex hormones produced in the human body in both women and men. Phytoestrogens can compete for receptor sites with the body’s own estrogen when estrogen levels are high or supplement estrogenic activity when estrogen levels are low. Just as significantly, they compete with what are known as xenoestrogens, harmful estrogen-like molecules from the environment, such as are found in pesticides, etc. One reason that eating fruits, vegetables and legumes promotes health and reduces the risk of cancer is that phytoestrogens found in these foods help to protect us from toxins that we have added to the environment. Flax is particularly rich in the lignan secoisolariciresinol diglycoside (SDG), and it also contains small amounts of the lignans matairesinol, pinoresinol and isolariciresinol.

Flax lignans are balancing to estrogen metabolism. Women may have the most to gain in terms of health benefits. Because lignans are phytoestrogens, under conditions of low blood estrogen levels, such as menopause, lignans can weakly activate estrogen receptors. This action is similar to that found with isoflavones. In a clinical trial, supplementation with flaxseed modified urinary estrogen metabolite excretion to a greater extent than did supplementation with an equal amount of soy. It is known from animal studies that supplementation with purified flax lignan improves bone strength during periods of life when estrogen levels are low.

More Than Just Calcium

Jarrow FORMULAS® Ultra Bone-Up® is a complete formula. This means that it includes magnesium to help keep calcium in the bones and not in the soft tissues. As much as 80% of all Americans do not consume adequate amounts of this mineral. Many calcium- based products intended to guard against bone loss contain no magnesium.

Other minerals are also important to bone health. Each gram of bone contains approximately 200 mcg of zinc and 200 mcg of manganese. These nutrients are important in maintaining the activity of the joint tissuecells, the chondrocytes, and the activity of the bone producing osteoblasts. Similarly, Copper is needed for bone development and hemoglobin function, and is critical for healthy joints. 19% of the body’s copper is in the skeleton (0.9 mcg/gram of tissue) and is neccessary for skeletal mineralization. The copperbased metalloenzyme lysyloxidase is essential for the cross-linking (strengthening) of collagen, and adequate dietary copper has been shown to substantially reduce bone loss in women 45-56 years old.

Boron is included because some studies have indicated that in post-menopausal women, boron plays a nutritional role in the serum concentration of the estrogenic hormone 17B-estradiol. This is significant because the amount of endogenous (produced by the body) 17Bestradiol may need to be only 5% of an orally-administered dose in order to maintain proper serum levels. In trials, when boron intake was increased from 0.25 mg per day to 3 mg, there was a decline in the urinary loses of calcium and magnesium.

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Source: Jarrow Formulas