Yes, chalk. Conceal it within a capsule, a slickly glazed tablet, or in the form of a silky smooth liquid, and
it is magically transformed into a “calcium supplement”: easy to swallow, “good for the bones” and a very
profitable money-maker for both the dietary supplement and mining industries. After all, here in Florida,
we are standing on billions upon billions of tons of the stuff. Calcium carbonate comes very cheap. But
does it work?
According to two recent studies published in Lancet (April, 2005) and the British Medical Journal (March,
2003) the answer to that question is a resounding, unequivocal NO. Calcium & vitamin D, alone, will do
nothing to prevent bone loss or fracture
in the elderly. Were this the end of the story, we might write off the $50 or more we spend on calcium
every year as a loss, and start drinking more milk. Not so quick! The Harvard Nurses’ Study, involving
78,000 nurses and 12 years long, demonstrated clearly that the more dairy you consume, the higher
rate of bone fracture you will experience. In fact, in countries where both dairy consumption and overall
calcium levels in the diet are the lowest, bone fracture rates are also the lowest.
Osteoporosis, after all, is a complex disease process, involving lack of strenuous exercise, chronic
inflammation, multiple mineral and vitamin deficiencies, inadequate production of steroid hormones, and
many other known and unknown factors, the least of which is in any probability related to a lack of
calcium in the diet. If we rule out cortisone or hyperparathyroidism induced osteoporosis, arguably the
two main contributing factors are:
1) Dietary Acidosis: caused by the excessive consumption of acid forming foods like starchy grains,
beans, dairy and meat, all of which result in the leaching of the alkaline mineral stores in our bones.
(Additionally, the consumption of highly acidic substances like coffee, alcohol, sugar, over the counter
and prescribed drugs, and even the metabolic byproducts of chronic stress can all put the acid/alkaline
balance beyond the tipping point).
2) Malabsorption Syndrome: caused by the consumption of wheat, dairy, soy and corn. All four of these
foods are used to produce industrial adhesives, e.g .wheat = book binding glue, dairy = elmers glue, soy
= plywood glue, corn = cardboard glue, and their ingestion leads to a disruption in the absorptive
capacity of the villi in the intestines through “coating” and “atrophy” of the villi. Moreover, all four foods
can cause an autoimmune response which results directly in damage to these villi.
Fortunately these two factors are completely preventable and treatable, having everything to do with the
age old phrase:
‘we are what we eat,’ and the implicit counterpoint: ‘we are not what we do
not eat.’
Not only is osteoporosis not caused by a lack of calcium, but it appears that excessive calcium intake
may actually cause greater bone porosity and bone fracture rates later in life! After all, the average
Chinese peasant eating a plant-based diet ingests approximately 100mg of food calcium a day - not the
1200mg a day the National Osteoporosis Foundation claims is necessary for women and men over 40 to
maintain strong bones. Paradoxically, not only does the afforementioned Chinese peasant have less
dense bones than your average Westerner, but s(he) also has incomparably stronger bones. In fact,
the Chinese language has no word for osteoporosis. These facts beg for a scientific explanation. A
Dutch researcher by the name of Thijs Klompmaker, in his 2000 article "Excessive Calcium Causes
Osteoporosis" provides a brilliant explanation as to why too much calcium interferes with bone health.
According to Klompmaker's analysis, excessive calcium introduced through diary products and mineral
supplementation coerces the bone-building cells known as osteoclasts to replicate prematurely, in effect
causing a rapid and premature aging of the bone. Excess calcium in the blood can lead to the
accumulation of plaque in the arteries and can exert both a hypertensive effect on the heart muscle and
increase the risk of heart attack. Excess calcium can also deposit into soft tissues, leading to
osteoarthritis, muscle cramping, insomnia, constipation, kidney stones, and increased rates of breast
and prostate cancers. To prevent this, the body shunts the extra calcium into the bone, where it is
stored until it can be safely excreted. The problem with this measure is that when osteoblasts replicate
approximately 60-70% die as they become part of the new bone mineral matrix they lay down. Because
there are only a fixed number of replication cycles available to the body in a given lifetime, the bone
density of those consuming excessive amounts of calcium may be greater earlier in life, but later in life
there would be insufficient osteoblastic activity to countermand the bone-deconstructing activity of the
osteoclasts. Indeed, in Asia where calcium consumption is relatively low (100-200 mg daily), peak bone
mass is reached later in life, and bones remain stronger and resistant to fracture later in life.
Sadly, conventional medicine pays far too little if any attention to the link between dietary and tissue
acidosis/malabsorption syndrome and osteoporosis in particular, and the obvious causal link between
diet and disease processes, in general. Moreover, with its questionable bias towards viewing disease as
genetically predetermined and treatable with toximolecular chemical therapies, the true causes of
suffering are rarely perceived, treated and resolved.
In fact today the primary medical intervention for osteoporosis is the use of bisphosphonates, a class of
“bone-building” drugs (e.g. Fosomax, Actonel, Boniva), which are made from a chemical that can be
found on the shelves of your local hardware store as an industrial cleaning solvent. The same thing
used to remove repugnant soap scum from the bathtub or to prevent rusting and scaling on industrial
equipment is being given to millions of Americans to “treat” their weakening bones. Thesse chemicals
poison and kill the group of bone-building cells known as the osteoclasts, which break down bad bone,
making room for the new, stronger bone the osteoblasts put in its place. This causes bad bone to
accumulate beneath the new good bone, causing an increase in bone density at the expense of bone
quality. 3-5 years into taking these drugs, though bone density may increase, bone fracture rate may
increase as well. The side effects of taking these drugs can be life-threatening, e.g. perforation of the
intestines, ulceration of the stomach an intestines, liver and kidney damage, and an irreversible
degeneration of the jawbone known as osteonecrosis.
To make matters worse, there is a systematic trend to categorize over 18 million Americans as having a
"disease" known as "osteopenia," when in fact this is not a medically relevant term at all. It is not
diagnostic of a disease state, nor is it an accurate predictor of future bone fracture rates. Technically
speaking, "osteopenia" is defined 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: 25-30 years
old. The Z score, were it to be emphasized, would take into the age of the person being evaluated, and
would take into account that as one ages, the bone becomes less dense. The use of the T-score
generates the illusion that older men and women who are experiencing the natural gradual decline in
bone density called aging are not going through a normal process but rather a disease process. And
this provides the justification for prescribing unnecessary and dangerous medications.
Ultimately bone health has everything to do with things we control, such as our ability to stay active, and
control what we put into our bodies. We should not allow ourselves to be convinced that swallowing
limestone supplements or toximolecular poisons will in anyway fill the void that a lack of genuine nutrition
and exercise left there. With a little research and a concerted effort we can take back control of our
health and increase our sense of true wellbeing.
it is magically transformed into a “calcium supplement”: easy to swallow, “good for the bones” and a very
profitable money-maker for both the dietary supplement and mining industries. After all, here in Florida,
we are standing on billions upon billions of tons of the stuff. Calcium carbonate comes very cheap. But
does it work?
According to two recent studies published in Lancet (April, 2005) and the British Medical Journal (March,
2003) the answer to that question is a resounding, unequivocal NO. Calcium & vitamin D, alone, will do
nothing to prevent bone loss or fracture
in the elderly. Were this the end of the story, we might write off the $50 or more we spend on calcium
every year as a loss, and start drinking more milk. Not so quick! The Harvard Nurses’ Study, involving
78,000 nurses and 12 years long, demonstrated clearly that the more dairy you consume, the higher
rate of bone fracture you will experience. In fact, in countries where both dairy consumption and overall
calcium levels in the diet are the lowest, bone fracture rates are also the lowest.
Osteoporosis, after all, is a complex disease process, involving lack of strenuous exercise, chronic
inflammation, multiple mineral and vitamin deficiencies, inadequate production of steroid hormones, and
many other known and unknown factors, the least of which is in any probability related to a lack of
calcium in the diet. If we rule out cortisone or hyperparathyroidism induced osteoporosis, arguably the
two main contributing factors are:
1) Dietary Acidosis: caused by the excessive consumption of acid forming foods like starchy grains,
beans, dairy and meat, all of which result in the leaching of the alkaline mineral stores in our bones.
(Additionally, the consumption of highly acidic substances like coffee, alcohol, sugar, over the counter
and prescribed drugs, and even the metabolic byproducts of chronic stress can all put the acid/alkaline
balance beyond the tipping point).
2) Malabsorption Syndrome: caused by the consumption of wheat, dairy, soy and corn. All four of these
foods are used to produce industrial adhesives, e.g .wheat = book binding glue, dairy = elmers glue, soy
= plywood glue, corn = cardboard glue, and their ingestion leads to a disruption in the absorptive
capacity of the villi in the intestines through “coating” and “atrophy” of the villi. Moreover, all four foods
can cause an autoimmune response which results directly in damage to these villi.
Fortunately these two factors are completely preventable and treatable, having everything to do with the
age old phrase:
‘we are what we eat,’ and the implicit counterpoint: ‘we are not what we do
not eat.’
Not only is osteoporosis not caused by a lack of calcium, but it appears that excessive calcium intake
may actually cause greater bone porosity and bone fracture rates later in life! After all, the average
Chinese peasant eating a plant-based diet ingests approximately 100mg of food calcium a day - not the
1200mg a day the National Osteoporosis Foundation claims is necessary for women and men over 40 to
maintain strong bones. Paradoxically, not only does the afforementioned Chinese peasant have less
dense bones than your average Westerner, but s(he) also has incomparably stronger bones. In fact,
the Chinese language has no word for osteoporosis. These facts beg for a scientific explanation. A
Dutch researcher by the name of Thijs Klompmaker, in his 2000 article "Excessive Calcium Causes
Osteoporosis" provides a brilliant explanation as to why too much calcium interferes with bone health.
According to Klompmaker's analysis, excessive calcium introduced through diary products and mineral
supplementation coerces the bone-building cells known as osteoclasts to replicate prematurely, in effect
causing a rapid and premature aging of the bone. Excess calcium in the blood can lead to the
accumulation of plaque in the arteries and can exert both a hypertensive effect on the heart muscle and
increase the risk of heart attack. Excess calcium can also deposit into soft tissues, leading to
osteoarthritis, muscle cramping, insomnia, constipation, kidney stones, and increased rates of breast
and prostate cancers. To prevent this, the body shunts the extra calcium into the bone, where it is
stored until it can be safely excreted. The problem with this measure is that when osteoblasts replicate
approximately 60-70% die as they become part of the new bone mineral matrix they lay down. Because
there are only a fixed number of replication cycles available to the body in a given lifetime, the bone
density of those consuming excessive amounts of calcium may be greater earlier in life, but later in life
there would be insufficient osteoblastic activity to countermand the bone-deconstructing activity of the
osteoclasts. Indeed, in Asia where calcium consumption is relatively low (100-200 mg daily), peak bone
mass is reached later in life, and bones remain stronger and resistant to fracture later in life.
Sadly, conventional medicine pays far too little if any attention to the link between dietary and tissue
acidosis/malabsorption syndrome and osteoporosis in particular, and the obvious causal link between
diet and disease processes, in general. Moreover, with its questionable bias towards viewing disease as
genetically predetermined and treatable with toximolecular chemical therapies, the true causes of
suffering are rarely perceived, treated and resolved.
In fact today the primary medical intervention for osteoporosis is the use of bisphosphonates, a class of
“bone-building” drugs (e.g. Fosomax, Actonel, Boniva), which are made from a chemical that can be
found on the shelves of your local hardware store as an industrial cleaning solvent. The same thing
used to remove repugnant soap scum from the bathtub or to prevent rusting and scaling on industrial
equipment is being given to millions of Americans to “treat” their weakening bones. Thesse chemicals
poison and kill the group of bone-building cells known as the osteoclasts, which break down bad bone,
making room for the new, stronger bone the osteoblasts put in its place. This causes bad bone to
accumulate beneath the new good bone, causing an increase in bone density at the expense of bone
quality. 3-5 years into taking these drugs, though bone density may increase, bone fracture rate may
increase as well. The side effects of taking these drugs can be life-threatening, e.g. perforation of the
intestines, ulceration of the stomach an intestines, liver and kidney damage, and an irreversible
degeneration of the jawbone known as osteonecrosis.
To make matters worse, there is a systematic trend to categorize over 18 million Americans as having a
"disease" known as "osteopenia," when in fact this is not a medically relevant term at all. It is not
diagnostic of a disease state, nor is it an accurate predictor of future bone fracture rates. Technically
speaking, "osteopenia" is defined 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: 25-30 years
old. The Z score, were it to be emphasized, would take into the age of the person being evaluated, and
would take into account that as one ages, the bone becomes less dense. The use of the T-score
generates the illusion that older men and women who are experiencing the natural gradual decline in
bone density called aging are not going through a normal process but rather a disease process. And
this provides the justification for prescribing unnecessary and dangerous medications.
Ultimately bone health has everything to do with things we control, such as our ability to stay active, and
control what we put into our bodies. We should not allow ourselves to be convinced that swallowing
limestone supplements or toximolecular poisons will in anyway fill the void that a lack of genuine nutrition
and exercise left there. With a little research and a concerted effort we can take back control of our
health and increase our sense of true wellbeing.
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