| Yes, chalk. Conceal it within a capsule, a slickly glazed | | | | genetically predetermined and treatable with |
| tablet, or in the form of a silky smooth liquid, and it is | | | | toximolecular chemical therapies, the true causes of |
| magically transformed into a "calcium supplement": | | | | suffering are rarely perceived, treated and resolved. |
| easy to swallow, "good for the bones" and a very | | | | In fact today the primary medical intervention for |
| profitable money-maker for both the dietary | | | | osteoporosis is the use of bisphosphonates, a class |
| supplement and mining industries. After all, in places | | | | of "bone-building" drugs (e.g. Fosomax, Actonel, |
| like Florida, they are standing on billions upon billions of | | | | Boniva), which are made from a chemical that can be |
| tons of the stuff. Calcium carbonate comes very | | | | found on the shelves of your local hardware store as |
| cheap. But does it work? According to two recent | | | | an industrial cleaning solvent. The same thing used to |
| studies published in Lancet (April, 2005) and the British | | | | remove repugnant soap scum from the bathtub or |
| Medical Journal (March, 2003) the answer to that | | | | to prevent rusting and scaling on industrial equipment |
| question is a resounding, unequivocal NO. | | | | is being given to millions of Americans to "treat" their |
| Calcium & vitamin D, alone, will do nothing to | | | | weakening bones. |
| prevent bone loss or fracture in the elderly. Were | | | | These chemicals poison and kill the group of |
| this the end of the story, we might write off the | | | | bone-building cells known as the osteoclasts, which |
| $50 or more we spend on calcium every year as a | | | | break down bad bone, making room for the new, |
| loss, and start drinking more milk. Not so quick! The | | | | stronger bone the osteoblasts put in its place. This |
| Harvard Nurses' Study, involving 78,000 nurses and 12 | | | | causes bad bone to accumulate beneath the new |
| years long, demonstrated clearly that the more dairy | | | | good bone, causing an increase in bone density at the |
| you consume, the higher rate of bone fracture you | | | | expense of bone quality. 3-5 years into taking these |
| will experience. In fact, in countries where both dairy | | | | drugs, though bone density may increase, bone |
| consumption and overall calcium levels in the diet are | | | | fracture rate may increase as well. The side effects |
| the lowest, bone fracture rates are also the lowest. | | | | of taking these drugs can be life-threatening, e.g. |
| Osteoporosis, after all, is a complex disease process, | | | | perforation of the intestines, ulceration of the |
| involving lack of strenuous exercise, chronic | | | | stomach an intestines, liver and kidney damage, atrial |
| inflammation, multiple mineral and vitamin deficiencies, | | | | fibrillation, shear bone fractures and an irreversible |
| inadequate production of steroid hormones, and | | | | degeneration of the jawbone known as |
| many other known and unknown factors, the least | | | | osteonecrosis. To make matters worse, there is a |
| of which is in any probability related to a lack of | | | | systematic trend to categorize over 18 million |
| calcium in the diet. | | | | Americans as having a "disease" known as |
| If we rule out cortisone or hyperparathyroidism | | | | "osteopenia," when in fact this is not a medically |
| induced osteoporosis, arguably the two main | | | | relevant term at all. |
| contributing factors are: 1) Dietary Acidosis: caused | | | | It is not diagnostic of a disease state, nor is it an |
| by the excessive consumption of acid forming foods | | | | accurate predictor of future bone fracture rates. |
| like starchy grains, beans, dairy and meat, all of which | | | | Technically speaking, "osteopenia" is defined having a |
| result in the leaching of the alkaline mineral stores in | | | | T score -1 to -2 standard deviations from an |
| our bones. (Additionally, the consumption of highly | | | | arbitrarily defined norm, which is the approximate age |
| acidic substances like coffee, alcohol, sugar, over the | | | | in the human life cycle for peak bone mass: 25-30 |
| counter and prescribed drugs, and even the metabolic | | | | years old. The Z score, were it to be emphasized, |
| byproducts of chronic stress can all put the acid | | | | would take into the age of the person being |
| alkaline balance beyond the tipping point). 2) | | | | evaluated, and would take into account that as one |
| Malabsorption Syndrome: caused by the consumption | | | | ages, the bone becomes less dense. The use of the |
| of wheat, dairy, soy and corn. All four of these | | | | T-score generates the illusion that older men and |
| foods are used to produce industrial adhesives, e.g | | | | women who are experiencing the natural gradual |
| .wheat = book binding glue, dairy = elmer's glue, soy | | | | decline in bone density called aging are not going |
| = plywood glue, corn = cardboard glue, and their | | | | through a normal process but rather a disease |
| ingestion leads to a disruption in the absorptive | | | | process. |
| capacity of the villi in the intestines through "coating" | | | | And this provides the justification for prescribing |
| and "atrophy" of the villi. Moreover, all four foods can | | | | unnecessary and dangerous medications. Ultimately |
| cause an autoimmune response which results directly | | | | bone health has everything to do with things we |
| in damage to these villi. (For More Information Read: | | | | control, such as our ability to stay active, and control |
| "Unglued: the Sticky Truth About Wheat, Diary, Corn | | | | what we put into our bodies. We should not allow |
| & Soy.") Fortunately these two factors are | | | | ourselves to be convinced that swallowing limestone |
| completely preventable and treatable, having | | | | supplements or toximolecular poisons will in any way |
| everything to do with the age old phrase: 'we are | | | | fill the void that a lack of genuine nutrition and |
| what we eat,' and the implicit counterpoint: 'we are | | | | exercise left there. |
| not what we do not eat.' Not only is osteoporosis | | | | Here are a few tips that should help you go a long |
| not caused by a lack of calcium, but it appears that | | | | way in preventing or reversing bone loss: 1) Eat |
| excessive calcium intake may actually cause greater | | | | Protein and Vitamin C rich Fruits and Vegetables! All |
| bone porosity and bone fracture rates later in life! | | | | bone begins as collagen, a substance whose intricate |
| After all, the average Chinese peasant eating a | | | | triple helix structure is formed through the Vitamin C |
| plant-based diet ingests approximately 150mg of food | | | | driven hydroxlation of the essential amino acids |
| calcium a day - not the 1200mg a day the National | | | | L-lysine and L-proline. Focusing on selecting a diet |
| Osteoporosis Foundation claims is necessary for | | | | closer to our hunters and gathers appears to be a |
| women and men over 40 to maintain strong bones. | | | | key factor in preserving both bone density and bone |
| Paradoxically, not only does the afforementioned | | | | strength. And remember: Vitamin C is not the same |
| Chinese peasant have less dense bones than your | | | | thing as ascorbic acid. Szent-Gyorgyi who received |
| average Westerner, but s(he) also has incomparably | | | | the Nobel Prize for its discovery in 1937 himself |
| stronger bones. In fact, the Chinese language has no | | | | concluded that you needed a whole food source of |
| word for osteoporosis. These facts beg for a | | | | this vitamin, e.g. paprika or adrenal extract, and not |
| scientific explanation. A Dutch researcher by the | | | | the synthetic crystals we now carelessly identify with |
| name of Thijs Klompmaker, in his 2000 article | | | | this life-giving food factor in food in order to prevent |
| "Excessive Calcium Causes Osteoporosis" provides a | | | | scurvy. 2) Get sunlight! Vitamin D supplements are to |
| brilliant explanation as to why too much calcium | | | | Sunlight, what ascorbic acid crystals are to the |
| interferes with bone health. According to | | | | Vitamin C activity found in whole, raw food. |
| Klompmaker's analysis, excessive calcium introduced | | | | The Sun itself provides both energy and information |
| through diary products and mineral supplementation | | | | to the body. We should consider it essential, no less |
| coerces the bone-building cells known as osteoclasts | | | | important than any other factor included within the |
| to replicate prematurely, in effect causing a rapid and | | | | Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). 3) Green leafy |
| premature aging of the bone. Excess calcium in the | | | | vegetables! Kale, Collards, Chard, etc. Arguably, these |
| blood can lead to the accumulation of plaque in the | | | | amazing, life-giving vegetables pack more bone |
| arteries and can exert both a hypertensive effect on | | | | building punch than any other foods on the planet. |
| the heart muscle and increase the risk of heart | | | | Not only do these foods score high in plant-calcium, |
| attack. | | | | but according to the principles of biological |
| Excess calcium can also deposit into soft tissues, | | | | transmutation laid down by the French scientist Louis |
| leading to osteoarthritis, muscle cramping, insomnia, | | | | Kervran (1901-1983), the magnesium, silica and |
| constipation, kidney stones, and increased rates of | | | | potassium found abundantly in these foods can |
| breast and prostate cancers (note: calcium is | | | | transmute through low energy nuclear transformation |
| mitogenic, stimulating proliferation of cells). To | | | | into additional calcium, as needed by the body. Foods |
| prevent this, the body shunts the extra calcium into | | | | like Kale are also extremely rich in the bone |
| the bone, where it is stored until it can be safely | | | | strengthening vitamins K, C, and the aforementioned |
| excreted. The problem with this protective measure | | | | amino acids L-lysine and L-proline. 4) Fight to reduce |
| is that when osteoblasts replicate approximately | | | | carbon emissions! What? |
| 60-70% die as they become part of the new bone | | | | You heard me. Just as the oceans are now |
| mineral matrix they lay down. Because there are only | | | | experiencing radical acidification via increased CO2 |
| a fixed number of replication cycles available to the | | | | emissions, bleaching out the world's coral reefs as the |
| body in a given lifetime, the bone density of those | | | | water transforms into a PH increasingly closer to |
| consuming excessive amounts of calcium may be | | | | soda pop, our body's also respond to increased CO2 |
| greater earlier in life, but later in life there would be | | | | in the atmosphere and decreasing PH in our bodies by |
| insufficient osteoblastic activity to countermand the | | | | dumping calcium from our bones. We simply can't |
| bone-deconstructing activity of the osteoclasts. | | | | separate physical health from planetary health any |
| Indeed, in Asia where calcium consumption is | | | | longer. 5) Strenuous exercise. Use it or lose it. Lack of |
| relatively low (100-200 mg daily), peak bone mass is | | | | movement, in general, and lack of weight-bearing |
| reached later in life, and bones remain stronger and | | | | exercise in particular, can contribute to weakening |
| more resistant to fracture later in life. Sadly, | | | | bones. Even building sufficient muscle around our hips |
| conventional medicine pays far too little if any | | | | to provide cushioning, for instance, can go a long |
| attention to the link between dietary and tissue | | | | way in preventing a slip and fall from turning into a |
| acidosis/malabsorption syndrome and osteoporosis in | | | | hip fracture and replacement. With a little research |
| particular, and the obvious causal link between diet | | | | and a concerted effort we can take back control of |
| and disease processes, in general. Moreover, with its | | | | our health and increase our sense of true well being. |
| questionable bias towards viewing disease as | | | | |