Brittle Bones Benefit from Herbal Support
At the age of 67, Waltraud H. was bedridden with spinal fractures caused by an extreme case of osteoporosis. The year was 1998 and a DEXA bone scan of her left hip revealed that she only had 25% – just one-fourth – of the normal bone density of a typical woman of her age. To make matters worse, her T-score of -6.2 indicated that her bone density was lower than 99% of all women in her age group.
In June 2005, at the age of 74, Waltraud began taking a traditional Chinese herbal formula in the hopes of forestalling further loss in hip bone density. Three months later, after taking 2 capsules twice per day her next DEXA showed, despite aging trends and expectations, that she actually experienced a 12.3% improvement in her hip bone density. Waltraud reported to us at that time that she was feeling stronger, was able to walk with greater ease and generally go about her daily chores with much less pain than before.
Waltraud continued to take the formula at a rate of three capsules per day. One year later, at age 75, her DEXA test scan again indicated a significant gain, revealing a further improvement in hipbone density of 22.4%. During this period in which Waltraud took the formula daily, her T-score improved 0.8 points (Fig. 1).
Today Waltraud has 50% of the bone density of a woman her age, compared to seven years previously when it was down to 25%. While her bones are still brittle, her recent scores reflect a significant 30 to 40 percent reduction in her risk of suffering a severe fracture when compared to data from a National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment study of 200,000 postmenopausal women.
The herbal formula that Waltraud has been taking works by regulating how calcium is used in the body to accomplish much more than just strengthening bones, as Waltraud attests in her recent letter. While others may not experience the same results as she did, her record of significant improvements as revealed by the DEXA scans illustrate that even those with very severe osteoporosis and brittle, fracture-prone bones may benefit from daily use of this unique herbal supplement.