The Natural Approach to Osteoporosis
If a little is helpful, more must be even better, right? This Western concept of more is better seems to be the root of the medical profession over-prescribing calcium supplements.
How else to explain doctors telling people (women mostly) to take 1200, 1500 and even up to 2,500 mg of elemental calcium per day. After all, even the medical profession will admit that all the calcium in the world won’t rebuild bone-mass but, at best, simply forbid further withdrawal of calcium from the bones. Yet, they continue to promote absurd amounts of calcium, without any evidence to support their position, and in the face of evidence that suggests that huge amounts of calcium are in fact dangerous.
Osteoporosis Drugs
I am not going to spend much time on discussing drugs for osteoporosis, as I believe most of my readers are already wary of pharmaceutical answers to most of our health problems. For those unaware of the dangers of bisphosphonates, have a read of this study, Femoral insufficiency fractures associated with prolonged bisphosphonate therapy.
Now, let’s look at calcium from the medical perspective and see if there is any validity to such high calcium recommendations.
Calcium
It all started in the 50’s and 60’s when clinical studies were done using calcium carbonate – without any co-factors. Not long thereafter, the medical profession acknowleged that vitamin D was also somewhat important to bone density, but only at a level of 400 IU daily. Which was to remain the standard recommendation for decades to follow.
However, they never clued into the relationship between calcium and magnesium, let alone the other required co-factors. The original studies doctors referred to used the most difficult calcium to digest (carbonate) given on an empty stomach, in a tablet, without magnesium, let alone other co-factors such as zinc and potassium. Therefore, they needed to get subjects to consume huge amounts of calcium before any noticeable benefits would manifest. However, those supposed benefits also came with unforeseen dangers.
Now, just to be clear, when I say “they” never clued into the other necessary components for bone health, I am referring only to the medical system. Science meanwhile was figuring this out, as everything that is to follow is based on real science. However, for the medical/pharmaceutical industry it was all about creating a market for their drugs that supposedly increased bone density, so they were never interested in discovering a natural approach to bone density. And this push to focus exclusively on calcium also served the dairy lobby, who worked hand in hand with the medical industrial complex to drive up milk sales.
But back to calcium.
Calcium Carbonate
Calcium carbonate is the same material that chalk is made from. “Research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed a stark contrast between calcium taken as part of the normal diet and mega-dose calcium in the form of chalk. The more calcium the women took in the form of chalk, the higher the incidence of kidney stones; the more calcium in the form of food, the lower the incidence of kidney stones.” (Beyond Aspirin; Thomas M. Newmark & Paul Schulick; Hohm Press, 2000)
Doctors used to commonly recommend “Tums” antacid as a good source of calcium, but since they are a carbonate form of calcium, it turned out that this was a very counterproductive recommendation.
“Current use of calcium supplements was associated with increased risk of hip…and vertebral…fractures; current use of “Tums” antacid tablets was associated with increased risk of fractures of the proximal humerus…“. (Source)
Now to be fair, if you take calcium carbonate with animal protein in a meal, and you do not already have low levels of stomach acid, it can be digested. (However, remember, Tums are designed to reduce stomach acid.)
Further on I will discuss more absorbable forms of calcium, but even if you can digest it, the other major issue is that calcium requires magnesium.
Magnesium
The importance of magnesium is illustrated by a study done with post-menopausal women, which gave them only magnesium, no calcium, and effectively halted bone-loss. (Source)
Why was magnesium alone so effective? Because most people in the West consume dairy products, and thus get plenty of calcium, but don’t consume enough dark leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and whole grains, to get enough magnesium.
Thus most people in the West are magnesium deficient, a fact fully articulated by the British Medical Journal (BMJ):”…because of chronic diseases, medications, decreases in food crop magnesium contents, and the availability of refined and processed foods, the vast majority of people in modern societies are at risk for magnesium deficiency.” (Source)
Calcium is so dependent on magnesium that, in its absence, calcium will actually leach magnesium out of your system. This puts you into heart disease territory, since the heart depends on magnesium to beat regularly and, as well, magnesium is required to keep blood pressure stable (which helps prevent strokes).
Therefore, an irregular heartbeat (or “flutter”), can usually be rectified by increasing ones’ magnesium intake. Another symptom of low magnesium is muscle cramps (“Charlie horses”). So, what happens when you go to the average doctor and tell him you have muscle cramps? He sends you off to buy calcium. The fact is: calcium contracts, and magnesium relaxes. For example, magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), is used in a bath to relax muscles. So, cramping is usually (not exclusively, though) the result of having too much calcium and/or too little magnesium.
Calcium Deposits
The other main problem with excessive calcium intake is the tendency of the body to deposit it in joints, creating arthritic conditions and bone spurs. If anyone has calcification anywhere in the body, the natural treatment is to stop ingesting calcium in supplement form, and from dairy products, and to take 600 mg of elemental magnesium per day (in divided dose), for a few months.
When the magnesium has emulsified the calcium deposits down to a level that eliminates the symptoms you can roll back the magnesium to 300 mg daily and even add back some calcium. Also beneficial for eliminating calcium deposits is apple cider vinegar (one tablespoon in water, between meals, three times daily), as well as taking a good amount of vitamin K2 (around 300 mcg of the MK7 form).
This calcification in the joints can be one reason why glucosamine doesn’t work for some people’s arthritis: there is no room in the joint for the glucosamine to get in and rebuild the connective tissue. Supplements containing “saponins” can be of benefit here, as they function like an internal detergent to wash out cellular debris, like calcification and uric acid crystals, from the joints. Such items include alfalfa, yucca, ginseng, aloe, soybeans, olives and quinoa. (We use saponin-containing substances in our JointStart Original product.)
Cal/Mag Ratio
Every two parts of calcium uses approximately one part of magnesium to facilitate its own absorption. That is why most cal-mag products are in a 2 to 1 ratio (eg: 300 mg calcium to 150 mg magnesium). And this is fine for those who don’t use dairy products, but for those who do use them on a regular basis (almost daily), I feel it is more important to pay attention to their magnesium intake.
For the average dairy consumer, I will suggest a one-to-one ratio of calcium to magnesium, ideally about 300 mg of each, in a capsule or liquid form, since tablets generally are less digestible. Now this ratio only works for people who are comfortable with that amount of calcium, since once you get much above 300 mg of magnesium (in one serving) you can find yourself in laxative territory.
For those who don’t take in dairy products, or those who do but have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, I recommend 500 mg of calcium and 500 mg of magnesium, daily (in divided dose).
Why would you be satisfied with only 500 mg of calcium per day? Well, the historical average intake of a human in a traditional diet is from 350 to 500 mg per day. This level is found in cultures that rarely showed signs of osteoporosis, until they adopted a Western diet. (e.g. Africa, China, India, Japan, and Indigenous peoples.) Yet, we in the West get more calcium than at any other place or time in history, and have more osteoporosis, and dental decay, than any of the cultures still consuming their traditional diets. Consider it a loose conspiracy of bad science and dairy-board propaganda.
So, we take in 500 mg elemental calcium with an equal amount of magnesium. Half of that magnesium is going to be used right away by the calcium to facilitate its absorption, but half of it is still going to be available to help with the many other functions magnesium serves in the human body.
In Part 2, we will look at the most important co-factors for calcium, those other nutrients that also serve to build and maintain our bones.
(Author: All newsletters and blogs are written by Ken Peters who has worked as a nutritional consultant for the last 30 years, and as product designer for NutriStart for the last 25 years. He has also authored two books – Health Secrets Vol. 1&2. He may be reached at: kenpetersconsulting@gmail.com)