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INTRODUCTION
MOTION
We move to sustain and enjoy our lives. Movement occurs throughout our world and inside our body. Movement inside our body is essential for nourishment, protection, and defense. Movement protects us from the environment in which we live.
We have developed powerful tools, such as the automobile, to help us move throughout the world. MEND Solutions™: has developed supplements to foster the internal movement necessary for good health. The more stress we create for ourselves with our activities, the more wear and tear we create for our joints and skeletal system. Our muscles are the motors commanding the skeletal movement. Good nutrition, working hand in hand with physical activity, strengthens our muscles and bones. Our joints and connective tissue bear the brunt of our physical activity. Friction and impact wear down the surfaces inside our joints, and on the skin and underlying tissues. Our joints and bones are designed to absorb the destructive forces of repeated movement. Traumatic injuries can damage the joints and bones. Inactivity can lead to erosion of the skeletal and muscular systems; i.e., "use it or lose it."
Specially covered surfaces and cartilage pads inside our joints, cushion us from the forces of movement. They allow us to move quickly and gracefully. These surfaces and pads prevent pain, excessive friction, or wear caused by bones rubbing against each other. They are composed of sugars, fats, and proteins, which are protected and stabilized by bioflavonoids. If the body is malnourished, it can't produce these sugars and fats. Proper supplementation is your best insurance against this problem.
GLYCONUTRIENTS
Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are key ingredients in joint health. They represent critical building blocks. They interlock with other sugars, fats, and proteins to coat joint surfaces. Cartilage, which is built from these substances, cushions the joints from the bone-pounding forces created by walking, running, and jumping. The greater the force or intensity of the activity, the more nutrients the body needs to keep the joints healthy. Look at the marathon runner who has worn out knees and tendons by running such long distances. These extra physical demands create extra nutritional needs.
FATS, PROTEINS, AND CARBOHYDRATE STRUCTURES
Fats, proteins, and carbohydrates combine, in the cell membranes, to define the outside of the cells throughout the body. The body uses them as flexible glue between cells, and also as structures for movement within cells. Specialized sugars are combined to form carbohydrate structures that establish cell-to-cell communication. They interlock with specialized proteins between and inside cells. Fats with "sugar-coating" are called glycolipids. Proteins with "sugar-coating" are called glycoproteins. These glycolipids and glycoproteins create the power and flexible interlocking of muscles, tendons, bones, and connective tissue. These specialized sugars are not the simple sugars, (glucose, fructose, or galactose) derived from a conventional diet.
FATS: REPAIR AND UPKEEP REGULATION
Lipids, produced from various fats, help to manage joint health. Repair and upkeep are normal daily activities within the joints and skeletal system. The repair work is controlled by the prostaglandins, which are produced from fats.
Pro- and anti-inflammatory prostaglandins maintain a delicate balance, affecting the intensity of joint repair. Some have the effect of pouring gasoline on a fire. Others slow the fire to a manageable burn. Repair and upkeep is like burning away older, damaged tissue, and replacing it with newer, healthy tissue. If the removal is too fast, tissue wears thin, increasing the chances of a stronger inflammatory fire. We experience this as pain, heat, and swelling. Removing glycoforms from cell surfaces destroys the markers that help your body identify these cells as part of you. The body tries to either repair these cells, or attack them; much like it would bacteria, viruses, or cancer.
Marine lipids and DHA deliver structural building blocks, helping control joint repair and upkeep. I have seen significant improvements in joint health of my patients when they use marine lipids and DHA in combination with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Fats also increase the body's absorption and retention of bone minerals, such as calcium and magnesium.
ANTI-OXIDANTS
VITAMINS AND BIOFLAVONOIDS
Joint "wear, tear, and repair" change chemical structures within joints. Oxidation damages tissue by producing free radicals. Free radicals, like bullets shot from an electron gun, oxidize membrane lipids and damage the DNA deep inside the cell's nucleus. This damage causes cellular aging and death. Antioxidants protect the cell from free radicals, and absorb these electron bullets. Antioxidants, such as Vitamin E, tocotrienols, and the bioflavonoids, are found in plant matter. Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant, is also a vitamin cofactor, building strong connective tissue.
WATER-SOLUBLE VITAMINS
The water-soluble vitamins, folate and Vitamin B-12, help manufacture the key building blocks of the joints. They also help replace worn-out joint cells.
MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) is a key ingredient for building connective tissue, and removing the toxic amino acid, homocysteine. If DNA cannot be repaired, the body cannot carry out its self-organizing and self-renewing activities.
NUTRITION AND BLOOD SUPPLY
Vitamin C and bioflavonoids maintain healthy blood vessels throughout the body. A healthy blood supply delivers nutrients to, and removes waste from, joints. Healthy circulation sustains the joints during activity and following injury. Weak and leaky blood vessels allow blood to enter the joints. Impact, caused by walking, running, or jumping, increases the damage.
NUTRITION, FRICTION, AND HEAT
Exercise produces friction and increases metabolism. More friction and increased metabolism produce more heat. Arteries and veins vent this excess heat from the joints and muscles by carrying it to body surfaces and the lungs. In the cold, arteries and veins redirect heat energy from the body's surface to the inside, where it is needed for the body's metabolism. Without this "heating-cooling" activity, the energy required for these chemical reactions would use or produce more heat than the body's cells could manage.
Cells store energy to fuel the body's molecular factories. Enzymes are machines that produce the required products and energy-rich molecules necessary for metabolism, repair, and self-renewal. Enzymes combine with vitamin coenzymes to become active molecular factories that produce the required products and energy-rich molecules. This combination enables cells to use energy more efficiently.
Heat and friction create constant problems in joints. Enzyme-vitamin complexes control the amount of heat produced in chemical reactions. They have the power to extinguish "biochemical fires." Delicate control systems govern these enzyme systems, slowing the manufacturing process so chemical reactions do not overheat the joints. Over-production of chemicals in the body produces toxic buildup in the joints, experienced as pain, heat, and swelling.
MINERALS
Calcium creates structural strength in the bones by helping cells coat their protein-girders with a mineral-rich, crystalline matrix. The bones also serve as a storehouse of calcium and other minerals. These stores of calcium are released to other parts of the body, meeting the demand for extra calcium. Calcium neutralizes the acids produced by meals rich in carbohydrates and proteins.
Micronutrients, like silica and boron, also strengthen the bones. For example, silicon regulates calcium deposits in the bones, and is essential for collagen production. Collagen is a structural protein of the bones, joints, and other connective tissues that helps keep cells tightly connected.
Since the 1920s, it has been known that fat is important to develop and maintain strong bones and healthy joints. Fats aid calcium absorption. They also increase calcium retention in bone and reduce calcium loss in urine. Fat restriction, especially in teenagers, interferes with building strong bones.
Our bodies can't produce all of the nutritional building blocks for a healthy lifestyle. Our present vigorous and stressful lifestyles place tremendous strain on our joints and bones. Investing a little in joint health is wiser than paying a fortune to repair damage caused by nutritionally unchecked wear and tear. MEND Solutions™ provides a "pound of benefit" through nutritional care.
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