Work with astronauts has
established that salt retention is a plausible forcer of body acidity and the
related loss of calcium. They are doing
a study with bicarbonate of soda to see if the effect can be countered and even
reversed that easily. Again plausibly,
it may turn out that the proper outright cure for osteoporosis is in fact a
daily dose of the soda.
I may be wrong on this, but if I
recall correctly, excessive sugars in our diet also produces an acidic blood
environment. Thus we have a clear path
to counteracting the disease that is not yet proven out but leaves us with the
important take home that we knew already and that is to lay off the sugars.
In fairness, these conclusions
have been indicated in past efforts, but here we are shown the smoking gun and
the room for doubt is strongly eliminated. The confirmation studies should work
through fine and in the meantime, the indicated protocol is easily accepted
anyway.
Add Salt? Astronauts' Bones Say Please Don't
by Staff Writers
Osteoporosis is a harsh disease that
reduces the quality of life for millions and costs Europe
around 25 billion euros ($31 billion) each year. It typically affects the
elderly, so the rise in life expectancy in developed countries means the
problems inflicted by osteoporosis are increasing.
Fortunately, research done in space may change the game.
Astronauts on the International Space Station experience accelerated
osteoporosis because of weightlessness, but it is carefully controlled, and
they can regain their lost bone mass once they are back on Earth.
Studying what happens during long space flights offers a good insight
into the process of osteoporosis - losing calcium and changing bone structure -
and helps to develop methods to combat it.
It has been known since the 1990s that the human body holds on to
sodium, without the corresponding water retention, during long stays in space.
But the textbooks said this was not possible. "Sodium retention in
space" became an important subject to study.
Salt intake was investigated in a series of studies, in ground-based
simulations and in space, and it was found that not only is sodium retained
(probably in the skin), but it also affects the acid balance of the body and
bone metabolism. So, high salt intake increases acidity in the body, which
can accelerate bone loss.
The European Space Agency's, or ESA's, recent SOdium LOad in
microgravity, or SOLO, study zoomed in on this question. Nine crew members,
including ESA's Frank De Winne and Paolo Nespoli during their long-duration
flights in 2010 and 2011, followed low - and high-salt diets.
The expected results may show that additional negative effects can be
avoided either by reducing sodium intake or by using a simple alkalizing agent
like bicarbonate to counter the acid imbalance.
This space research directly benefits everybody on Earth who is prone
toosteoporosis.
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