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The symptomatic link in scientific research between facial wrinkles and the onset of brittle bones and osteoporosis and what dietary approach prevents and can even reverse both conditions.
Could it be that assessing bone health could be as simple as looking in the mirror?
Scientific research including anecdotal evidence from traditional cultures seems to indicate as much.
Research has demonstrated that menopausal women in their late 40s and 50s with deep wrinkles on their face or neck had significantly lower bone density when tested than those who did not.
Women who had undergone dangerous botox injections or any cosmetic skin procedures were excluded from the study.
In addition, women taking cancer-inducing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in any form did not qualify.
Skin Firmness and Bone Density Go Hand-in-Hand
Researchers measured skin firmness in the 114 study participants with a device called a durometer. Bone density was also analyzed using x-rays.
The relationship between skin and bone health is not surprising given that skin and bone share common protein building blocks called collagens. (1,2)
Aging contributes to collagen breakdown in the skin which leads to sagging and wrinkling. These changes contribute to bone thinning as well.
In Japanese women, a diet high in Vitamin K2 is credited with minimal facial wrinkling.
It is the vitamin deficiency that is literally etched on your face!
Osteoporosis is rare in Japanese women as well, despite their small frames and bones…a known risk factor. (3)
In the study linking wrinkles and bone density, researchers noted the relationship between facial appearance and skeletal health in every single bone tested which included hip, heel, and lumbar spine. (4)
This relationship existed regardless of body fat percentage and age.
While this was a small study, it does seem to indicate that problems with bone density can be identified much earlier and less expensively than previously thought.
A simple glance in the mirror may be all that is required to spur women to action that bone health is faltering.
Drugs for Bone Loss Don’t Work
If a woman is concerned about wrinkles and bone health, what is she to do?
Using pharma drugs to treat the problem is not wise!
For example, drugs such as Fosamax and other bisphosphonates actually contribute to serious leg fractures and hip breaks. (5)
Perhaps worse, research demonstrated that Fosamax can double the risk of atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat). (6)
These disturbing findings have caused some leading doctors to rethink the long-term drug approach to osteoporosis.
Clearly, diet instead of drugs is the preferable way to prevent bone loss, and as a side benefit, prevent wrinkles.
The question is, which diet changes would be most effective?
The Strong Bones/Anti-Wrinkle Diet
In healthy, traditional societies, copious use of collagen-rich bone broths in the making of soups and stews prevented bone degeneration in older members.
In addition, revered “sacred foods” such as bone marrow, fish eggs, grassfed butter, egg yolks, and organ meats, particularly liver, were provided to ensure health and physical vitality well into old age.
Not surprisingly, these foods are high in wrinkle-reducing Vitamin K2.
Photos of elderly members of traditional people groups confirm this in the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration published in the 1930s.
Women in their nineties showed an almost complete lack of facial wrinkling, looking decades younger than their chronological age!
With degenerative diseases such as osteoporosis virtually unknown in these ancestral cultures, a focus on foods rich in fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K2 in the post-childbearing years is clearly effective.
The bonus from consuming easily assimilated collagens from homemade bone broths and foods high in fat-soluble activators is smooth, healthy skin!
There is simply no need to treat wrinkles and bone loss with cosmetic procedures and drugs with dangerous side effects.
Simple changes to the diet can ensure beauty and health on the inside and out!
(1) Osteoporosis, like skin aging, is caused by collagen loss
(2, 4) No Joke! Laugh Lines May Reveal Bone Health
(3) Osteoporosis in Japan: Factors contributing to the low incidence of hip fracture
(5) Long-Term Use of Osteoporosis Drugs Linked to Hip Breaks
(6) Fosamax Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Condition
Sarah – How old are you? Don’t answer if you don’t want to…
I don’t like to post specific personal info on the internet for obvious reasons, but I will officially be in my late 40’s in a few weeks! 🙂 My husband says I look better now than when he met me in my early 20’s and if that’s true (hopefully he’s not just giving me a line LOL) I have no doubt that it’s diet that has played a key role there.
No Laughing Matter: Wrinkles and Bone Health Linked – The Healthy Home Economist: http://t.co/qLdRlKJ via @addthis
You know, I have noticed that your skin looks very smooth and glowing when I have watched your videos. It must be your broths, FCLO, and fish eggs! 🙂
Sarah, thank you for a great article. As a Chiropractor I am often faced with the case of telling patients that they have Osteopenia ( after careful use of digital X-ray of which I am fully trained and licensed in). The discussion often leads me to remind them that their diet and weight bearing exercise goes a long way to healthy bone density, along with a properly aligned subluxation free spine. I will be reposting this with your permission if I may.
Hi Lucy – of course, please do repost. 🙂
Interesting. Thank you!
I recently had some x-rays done and was told that I have Osteopenia … I am only 37 years old. It was a bit worrisome … I have been eating bone broth, grassfed butter, pastured eggs, FCLO etc and have been very consistent over the last year. I also recently found out that I am pregnant with my third child. Any ideas why I may have gotten Osteopenia so early and any advice on what I should be doing while I am pregnant??
Great post!
A year is not very long in the grand scheme of things. I would add butter oil to your FCLO dosage and perhaps have your vitamin D levels checked. FCLO alone may not be enough to keep vit D in the optimal range. YOu may need sun and/or fish eggs. I know for me personally, I need to get quite a bit of sun along with my FCLO to keep vit D levels normal.
Hi Sarah,
Is lard good as a staple for vitamin D along with CLO, eggs, ect?
From pasture raised lard that is.
*pigs 🙂
Lard is an excellent source of Vitamin D. Not nearly as high as FCLO and fish eggs though.
The x-rays to determine bone density are a worry. X-rays are very damaging. Most x-ray machines are not regularly inspected (fire extinguishers are more closely monitored). Studies have shown a very high percentage of x-ray units deliver excessive amounts of radiation due to too large a beam. Also, in most states (other than CA) this equipment can be operated by anyone, they don’t have to be a “technician or a doctor”. Only a few medical entities even bother to license their x-ray folks. Office personnel, bookkeepers, etc., are used to give x-rays sometimes. They, being untrained, may deliver doses 100 times the amount of radiation required, thus exposing you to an increased threat of cancer or genetic damage, etc.
I think I’ll just eat properly and hope my bones are benefitting.
The link was independent of age, percentage of body fat and other factors known to influence bone density, Pal (researcher) said.
I GPRS to make me some bone broth
Smokers are MUCH more likely to have deep wrinkles…and I believe smoking causes bone loss?? Did the study vet for that?