May is National Osteoporosis Awareness month. Osteoporosis, a serious bone-thinning disorder, makes bones fragile and prone to fracture. It has no symptoms and may progress painlessly until a bone breaks. Women are four times more likely than men to develop osteoporosis.

Academy Award winning actress Sally Field ate well, exercised and maintained a physically active lifestyle. But these factors weren’t enough to protect her from osteoporosis and just shy of her 60th birthday, Sally was diagnosed with osteoporosis.

Since that time, she has been treated with medication that slows bone loss, increased her calcium and Vitamin D intake and been followed closely by her doctor. Today, Sally Field is well on her way back to good bone health and recently spoke before members of Congress about the importance of raising awareness about osteoporosis.

“Osteoporosis and low bone mass is a national health issue, threatening more than 44 million Americans age 50 and older,” Field said. But once detected, the disease is treatable and even reversible. A BMD, or bone mineral density test, can detect the thinning of bone that occurs with osteoporosis.

The actress has begun her own campaign sponsored by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline called Rally with Sally for Bone HealthSM. On the Rally with Sally website, women are encouraged to protect their bone health by pledging to:

* Get adequate calcium and vitamin D
* Take their osteoporosis medication as directed
* Exercise to build strength
* Visit their doctors regularly

For more information on osteoporosis and Sally’s campaign:

Rally With Sally For Bone Health

National Osteoporosis Foundation

Broccoli is well-known for its health benefits. It’s rich in Vitamin C - just one stalk of broccoli can deliver over 200% of your daily requirement of Vitamin C. Like other dark green and orange veggies, broccoli contains beta-carotene (Vitamin A). Both Vitamin C and Vitamin A are known anti-oxidants which prevent the damage done by free radicals making them cancer-preventative. Add to that the fact that broccoli is high in fiber and you have what seems to be the perfect cancer-fighting vegetable.

Unless you boil it.

Researchers at the University of Warwick say that boiling vegetables such as broccoli can damage their anti-cancer properties, reducing their health benefits.

My mother always told me that if you boil your vegetables, you leave the best part in the water you boiled them in. Turns out, she was right.

Some of the cancer fighting substances in vegetables like broccoli, green cabbage, cauliflower and Bussel sprouts, called glucosinolates, are lost in preparation if the method of cooking is boiling. Cooking fresh vegetables by stir-frying, steaming or microwaving did not have any effect on the glucosinolate levels. Boiling caused a loss of up to 77% of the glucosinolates in broccoli.

The researchers recommend adding these veggies to your diet, but say you will gain the most benefit if you choose to steam, stir-fry or microwave them rather than boiling.

Research Says Boiling Broccoli Ruins Its Anti Cancer Properties

Postmenopausal women are urged to increase dietary calcium to prevent bone loss and Vitamin D has been shown to be protective against some cancers. But together they may have one additional health benefit. New research has shown that taking calcium in conjunction with Vitamin D supplements may slow or prevent weight gain in postmenopausal women.

During and after menopause, women face a number of new health concerns, not the least of which is bone loss. But the tendency towards weight gain is equally distressing.

The greatest benefit was to women whose calcium was low initially. By increasing their calcium and Vitamin D intakes, they were 11 percent less likely to gain weight than their counterparts who did not consume the recommended amounts of calcium.

More information on the study can be found at Medical News Today.

Green Tea and the health benefits being attributed to it are constantly in the news. Some claims are yet unproven, but here’s one that appears to have validity.

The polyphenols in Green Tea have been studied for their protective effects against some cancers. Green Tea contains antioxidants that have been shown to protect against cell damage.

A study at the University of Southern California suggests that drinking Green Tea could lower a woman’s risk of breast cancer. According to researchers, Green Tea drinkers had a lower blood estrogen level. High blood estrogen levels have been linked to breast cancer.

Drinking Black Tea did not have the same estrogen lowering effects.

Green Tea May Protect Against Breast Cancer