Do you know what’s in your calcium supplement?
Limestone.
Most calcium supplements available OTC are made of limestone, aka chalk. Manufacturers of calcium supplements make it easy to swallow or chew, and it’s marketed to the public as good for healthy bones. Limestone is calcium carbonate, which is abundant and very inexpensive to source.
Is it actually good for us? Let’s look at some studies.
One review published in Osteoporosis International showed that calcium supplementation alone, without vitamin D, increased the rate of bone fracture in women.
Another study conducted by Harvard followed 78,000 nurses for 12 years. It found that the nurses who consumed higher volumes of milk had higher rates of bone fracture. The study also found that the risk of hip fracture was 45% higher in women who drank two or more glasses of milk per day.
Countries with the lowest dairy consumption and lowest overall calcium levels in the diet have the lowest bone fracture rates as well. The converse is also true.
Multiple factors contribute to the development of osteoporosis like chronic inflammation, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, lack of exercise, dietary incompatibilities, poor production of steroid hormones, and more. Generally, a lack of elemental calcium (inorganic) is not high on the list of risk factors.
Osteoporosis, as defined by dual-emission X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans, can only directly measure bone mineral density and not structural integrity/strength, which is a more accurate way of determining if your bones will fracture due to an incident like a serious fall.
The two main contributing factors linked to lower bone mineral density are:
1. Malabsorption, which results from excessive consumption of soy, corn, cow’s milk products, and wheat. For some people, these four foods can cause a disruption of the absorption capacity of the villi in the intestines and contribute to the inflammation and atrophy of the villi. Malabsorption may also be caused by dysbiosis, which is the overgrowth of harmful bacteria in the intestines. And acute stress can deplete the glutamine which the villi require to survive.
2. Dietary acidosis, which may result from excessive consumption of starchy grains, meat, and dairy. These foods form acids that enable the leaching of the alkaline minerals in our bones. This may occur through the consumption of other acidic substances like sugar, alcohol, certain medications, and coffee. Again, stress can play a role in disrupting the acid/alkaline balance.
These factors are easily influenced by changes in diets and lifestyles. Increasingly, more scientists are suggesting that osteoporosis is not caused by a lack of calcium. In fact, the opposite may be true. Excessive calcium intake may lead to higher bone fracture rates.
A Dutch researcher, Thijs Klompmaker, wrote an article in which he argues that consumption of excessive calcium introduced through dairy products and mineral supplementation may be making our bones weaker. In addition, excess calcium may be deposited into soft tissues, leading to muscle cramping, osteoarthritis, constipation, kidney stones, insomnia, and higher rates of breast and prostate cancers. Excess calcium in the blood can lead to the accumulation of plaque in the arteries, can exert a hypertensive effect on the heart muscle, and may even induce cardiac arrest. In fact, according to two meta-analyses published in the British Journal of Medicine last year, 500 mg of supplemental elemental calcium a day increases the risk of heart attack by at least 24%!
Science and medicine need to investigate the links between dietary and tissue acidosis/malabsorption syndrome and osteoporosis in particular, and the obvious causal link between diet and disease processes, in general. They need to move away from the bias of seeing disease as always genetic and treatable with drugs rather than addressing the root cause of diet and lifestyle.
Indeed, the first-line treatment for osteoporosis is the administration of bisphosphonates, which claim to build bone (Reclast, Boniva, Actonel, Fosomax. These are made from a class of chemicals used to soften water in irrigation systems to prevent corrosion and scaling. Yet, millions of patients take it to treat their weakening bones.
These chemicals are known to poison the bone-building cells known as the osteoclasts, which break down weak bone, making room for the new, stronger bone that the osteoblasts put in its place. This unnatural intervention causes the weak bone to accumulate beneath the new strong bone, resulting in an increase in bone density at the expense of bone quality. Long-term use of these drugs may result in greater bone density, but bone fracture rates may increase as well.
The side effects can be life-threatening including liver and kidney damage, perforation of the intestines, ulceration of the stomach and intestines, atrial fibrillation, spontaneous bone fractures and irreversible degeneration of the jawbone known as osteonecrosis.
In addition, doctors tend to label millions of Americans with osteopenia, which is not a clinical diagnosis. Osteopenia does not describe a disease state, nor is it an accurate predictor of future bone fracture rates. Technically speaking, “osteopenia” is defined as having a T score -1 to -2 standard deviations from an arbitrarily defined norm, which is the approximate age in the human life cycle for peak bone mass: 25 years of age. It does not consider the age of the person at the time of evaluation, sex, ethnicity, and other factors. The Z-score, because it is age-mediated, takes into account that as one ages, the bone naturally becomes less dense.
Using the T-score suggests that rather than experiencing normal aging, older men and women are experiencing a disease process. It also ignores certain risks with higher bone density later in lie such as a much higher rate of malignant breast cancer.
The present T-score-based bone density scoring system provides justification for prescribing unnecessary medications. Bone health has to do with things we control, such as our ability to stay active, and what we do or do not ingest. Consuming limestone supplements or taking anti-corrosion chemicals cannot make up for a lack of good nutrition and exercise.
Here are a few tips that should help you go a long way in preventing or reversing bone loss:
- Eat high-quality protein and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables! All bone begins as collagen, a substance whose intricate triple helix structure is formed through the Vitamin C-driven hydroxylation of the essential amino acids L-lysine and L-proline. Natural vitamin C is different than ascorbic acid, so focus on diet first.
- Get sunlight! Vitamin D supplements are to sunlight, what ascorbic acid crystals are to the Vitamin C activity found in whole, raw food.
- Vitamin K works with vitamin D, preventing hypercalcemia and ectopic calcification, as well as strengthening the bone, without altering bone mineral density. It is found in nutrient-dense foods like kale, and as a by-product of the metabolic activity of friendly bacteria in our gut or in cultured foods.
- Minimize wheat and gluten in your diet. Use soy moderately. One byproduct of soy fermentation is the generation of a phytoestrogen called genistein, which adds to bone strength and density.