Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a major health concern, for good reason... our bones protect our vital organs and provide the structural support that lets our muscles move us around.

Some people think of bone as an inert substance that's little more than glorified concrete. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bone is living, vibrant tissue which is absolutely central to our overall health. Among other things, bones create blood cells and also serve as a repository for calcium.

You may think of calcium as something you need simply to keep your bones strong. Calcium is actually used by the body for many functions... muscular contraction, nerve conduction, and creating the electrical signals used by the heart.

In fact, your body will pull calcium out of the bones if your blood levels get too low. It's more important to keep your heart beating than to have strong bones. So if we want to avoid osteoporosis (weakening of the bones), the best way is to avoid losing the calcium in the first place.

Some people focus on supplementation, and yes, if your dietary intake of calcium is low, you’ll lose some there. But there are far more dramatic sources of calcium loss.

The biggest one is sugar. Consuming refined sugar dramatically increases the amount of calcium lost in the urine. Which, in turn, drops the levels of calcium in the blood, and your body will respond by drawing calcium out of the bones to keep this vital element at a normal level in your bloodstream.

Step one in avoiding osteoporosis is to cut out the sugar, including sugary drinks. This is more important than supplementation, in my opinion. Your body can only take in so much calcium at a time (it’s just a tough nutrient to absorb), and you can lose it much faster than you can put it back. So definitely cut out the sugar.

Weight bearing exercise is just as important. Bone is living tissue that reacts to stress. Just like your muscles respond to stress by becoming stronger, your bones will also respond to stress by becoming stronger. The reverse is true: just like your muscles will atrophy (shrink up and get weak) with disuse, your bones will weaken if they aren’t put under stress.

So, make sure you’re exercising. The more weight-bearing an exercise is, the better… that doesn’t mean you have to be a power-lifter, but even the elderly should be doing some sort of resistance training.

Lastly, you can supplement. The main thing to know about calcium supplementation is that you need to be taking vitamin D and magnesium along with the calcium. These are co-factors your body requires to absorb and use the calcium, so they must be included.

Also, it doesn’t help to take more than 500 mg of calcium at once. Your body reaches saturation around 400-500 mg, and the remainder will simply pass out of your body unused. If you need to take more than 500 mg a day, be sure to split the doses up throughout the day.