It saddens me to see older women diagnosed with “osteopenia” or “osteoporosis” listening to their doctors and taking calcium supplements and even problem drugs called bisphosphonates. These are irrational, dogmatic, and damaging approaches to the problem of bone breakdown as we age.
In my time practicing nephrology and internal medicine, I saw numerous patients suffering from vascular disease while taking recommended doses of calcium. X-rays revealed perfect outlines of calcified blood vessels and calcified heart valves.
Shown here is a calcified mammary artery, often seen in women receiving treatment for hypertension. The main drug used in high blood pressure, a thiazide diuretic, causes the body to retain calcium and lose magnesium and potassium. By the way, we see these kinds of calcifications in the great arteries all over the body, not just in the sinuses. I believe these problems are avoidable.
The bone matrix will incorporate calcium and nutrients where appropriate, as long as the proper hormones and nutrients are present. It goes without saying that gravitational force in the form of weight-bearing exercise is essential and should be the foundation of a healthy skeleton. Don’t be afraid to exercise with some weight in a backpack if you don’t have disc disease or lower back pain.
You have yet to see what you can do nutritionally and interpersonally to help your body heal itself. Supplements are not a substitute for good nutrition. After all, scientists are constantly discovering new things about food and its interaction with the body that we don’t know about.
The first thing to do is Google or your reference books to find foods with vitamin C, vitamin K2, magnesium, and minor minerals like boron and silica. Silica is also important for bones. Remember also that depression has many causes. sometimes the cause could be nutritional deficiencies And sometimes depression can be the result of getting caught up in unhealthy family dynamics. Controversially, he would also argue that depression can also have spiritual origins.
But if time feels of the essence, then supplementation is one route that can be taken. While the medical profession supplements with calcium and fosomax, in my opinion a more constructive supplementation regimen could include vitamin C, vitamin K2, vitamin D3 (in winter months, sun in summer), and boron, silica, and magnesium. All of these are far more important for preventing fractures and keeping bones healthy than calcium.
Calcium will eventually land in the heart muscles, heart valves, and blood vessels, leading to cardiovascular disease. However, if you get enough vitamin C, D3, and K2, your body will direct the calcium you eat from your food where it belongs, not your heart or blood vessels.
Vitamin C does several things to strengthen bones
- Mineralizes the bone and stimulates the growth of bone-forming cells.
- It prevents too much bone breakdown by inhibiting the cells that absorb bone.
- Dampens oxidative stress, which is what aging is.
- It is vital in the synthesis of collagen.
When vitamin C is low, the opposite happens. Bone cells that break down bone, called octeoclasts, proliferate, and bone cells that lay down minerals and new bone, called osteoblasts, do not form.
Studies have shown that elderly patients who fractured their bones had significantly lower levels of vitamin C in their blood than those who did not fracture.[1] Bone mineral density: What the tests measure is higher in those who supplement with vitamin C, regardless of estrogen level.[2],[3]
Vitamin K2 is well known among holistic practitioners for its importance in cardiovascular and bone health. Supplementing this is also a good idea if bone or heart problems are a concern. read more here.
And of course the good vitamin D3 at a level of around 50-70 mg/ml will help keep your immune system functioning and your bones strong.
This may seem like a lot of supplementation, but to me it’s a worthwhile effort that will keep much more than just your bones strong. These days, getting enough vitamin C isn’t so easy through diet alone. With the toxic load we all carry, even with the most pristine diets, we are requiring more vitamin C internally than our ancestors did. Adults would do well to take 2 to 5 grams per day of sodium ascorbate as a general supplement. If you have active kidney stones or kidney disease, check with your doctor first.
Humans, monkeys, and guinea pigs do not produce vitamin C. This leaves us on our own to meet our needs. Cats weighing just 10 to 15 pounds synthesize more than 15 times the RDA of vitamin C recommended for humans. Goats are about the size of an adult human and, without stress, synthesize 13G per day. Under stress it can reach 100G. Don’t be afraid to take vitamin C. It is one of the least toxic and safest supplements known. Use liposomal vitamin C, sodium ascorbate or ascorbic acid, never Ester-C or calcium ascorbate. If you prefer a natural plant-based source, camu-camu is very high in C. However, your harvest will not threaten the rainforest.
republished from GreenMedInfo.com
References
[1] Falch. 1998. “low serum ascorbic acid levels in elderly patients with hip fracture.” Scand J Clin Lab Invest. May 58(3): 225-8
[2] Morton D. 2001. “Use of vitamin C supplements and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women” J Bone and Min Res. 16(1), 135-140
[3] Levelle, 1997.”Dietary vitamin C and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women in Washington state, USA.” J Epid and Comm Health. 51(5):479-485.
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