Bone Health 145
because it is made up of water, minerals, and protein, nearly the same
composition as the synovial fl uid. Stephanie drank three glasses of juice
a day made from grapefruit, celery, spinach, and carrots. This combina-
tion provides a balance of alkaline and acid electrolytes (electrically
charged minerals). The salicylic acid in the grapefruit helps dissolve
calcium that encrusts the cartilage and bones and also removes toxins
from the synovial (lymph) fl uid; celery juice keeps the sludge in solu-
tion, and carrots and spinach facilitate its elimination from the colon.
Stephanie also stopped eating wheat because she was allergic to the
gluten (wheat protein), a common allergy among those with arthritis.
An effective supplement for arthritis sufferers, as well as for those with
osteoporosis, is a fatty acid called cetyl myristate (see Resources). The
chemist who discovered cetyl myristate got the idea it would be a cure
for arthritis in humans because mice don’t get arthritis, a fact he attri-
butes to their having cetyl myristate, a chemical humans lack. Stepha-
nie took the prescribed dosage of six tablets of cetyl myristate a day for
six weeks, and by the end of the six-week period, she felt, she said, as
though the arthritis had actually been lifted out of her body. Cetyl
myristate also lowered her elevated blood pressure. The effectiveness
of this fatty acid is confi rmed in an independent study of the research
and fi ndings of Harry Diehl, an employee of the National Institutes of
Health, who isolated the fatty acid from Swiss albino mice. Of the
forty-eight participants in the study, all of whom had advanced rheu-
matoid arthritis, only two failed to show any improvement. This was
attributed to their prolonged use of cortisone, which had severely dam-
aged their livers.^4
While the effectiveness of cetyl myristate is partly due to its lubrica-
tion of the bone joints and muscles, its greatest value lies in its ability
to repair the cell membranes of the bone cells that have deteriorated
due to insuffi cient amounts of fatty acid.
Bursitis and Gout
Emily, fi fty-one, a Romanian by birth, immigrated to the United
States with her husband and fi ve-year-old daughter fi fteen years ago
and settled in New York City. Shortly after their arrival her husband
