Dear Patient,
You are constantly being advised, by the media, to drink milk, eat low-fat yogurt, or cheese, and other dairy products, and to take calcium supplements and estrogen. Why? To avoid osteoporosis.
In this letter we're going to take a closer look at this advice. You'll see that keeping your bones healthy is much more complex than swallowing calcium. And more startling is that taking calcium can cause many other health problems, and doesn't necessarily help your bones.
Here's the bad news . . . . . despite taking calcium supplements, getting exercise and taking estrogen, at least 1.2 million women suffer fractures due to osteoporosis every year. And the number of these fractures has been increasing - more than twice as many fractures occur now, compared with 30 years ago.
A study by the Mayo Clinic reported that extra calcium supplementation tripled the risk of fractures in some women already suffering from osteoporosis.
A 1972 study of autopsies showed a close correlation between osteoporosis and calcification of the abdominal aorta. What this means is the calcium is leaving one place, namely your bones, and ending up in the wrong place - your arteries.
According to researchers, osteoporosis is a disease of modern civilization. Skeletons from the 1700's and 1800's have been studied. Scientists found that the women living two to three centuries ago had stronger bones than the women today. In underdeveloped countries, there is also much less osteoporosis with a daily calcium intake much less than ours. So, clearly osteoporosis is not simply a lack of calcium in our diets.
Calcium is just one element in a delicate balance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and hormones. Many women actually have plenty of calcium but are very low in magnesium and/or other essential minerals. The first problem with taking calcium supplements is that you increase the need for other minerals, like magnesium, which helps to get the calcium out of your bloodstream and into your bones.
If you don't have enough magnesium in your body to match the extra calcium, then the calcium you're taking gets deposited in your muscles, arteries, and joints (causing fibromyalgia, blocked arteries, and arthritis). And if the calcium starts to clog the fine capillaries in your brain, guess what - your thinking and memory can be affected. If this happens in your arms and legs you may experience cold hands and feet.
Viral infections, fatigue, muscle aches and pains (fibromyalgia), diabetes, increased urination (so you may not have a bladder infection after all), constipation, flatulence, or serious depression are signs of too much calcium in your system.
Dr. Malter, a clinical psychologist in Illinois, tells of a patient who started to take calcium supplements because she read about the dangers of osteoporosis. Soon thereafter she became depressed. Within months she was engulfed in waves of depression, coupled with fits of anger and crying spells for no apparent reason, and even became suicidal. After attending a lecture by Dr. Malter, she put two and two together and realized that her problem began after starting the calcium supplements.
She consulted with Dr. Malter, who advised that she obtain a hair mineral analysis. In the meantime he suggested that she discontinue the calcium supplements. Within a very short time the anxiety attacks disappeared, her depression lifted and her mental health returned. The hair mineral test confirmed that she should not have been taking calcium at this time because she already had extremely high calcium levels in her system.
Our bodies are very good at recycling calcium - that's one of the great functions of your bones - they are a storehouse of calcium. And it's a two-way street - when everything is working properly you can get calcium out of your bones or put more into your bones - kind of like a bank account - money in, money out. However, our bodies are not good at storing and recycling magnesium. Taking more calcium may be causing a magnesium deficiency. Look at the box below to see all the signs of magnesium deficiencies.
Signs of Magnesium DeficiencyOsteoporosis Atherosclerosis Arrhythmia Congestive heart failure PMS Diabetes High Cholesterol Increased urination Chronic fatigue Hypoglycemia High blood pressure Arthritis/bursitis Gallstones Kidney stones Insomnia Epilepsy Seizure Disorders Constipation Nervousness Anxiety Concentration problems Irritability Apathy Depression Increased perspiration Muscle cramps Increased body odor Muscle tremors |
HEALTH TIP: If you have any of the symptoms of a magnesium deficiency, stop taking calcium for a month and see if there is any improvement. Also try eating foods that are high in magnesium - leafy green vegetables, celery, nuts, seeds, and sea vegetables.
I talked about magnesium above. Some other important minerals are:
If you are low in hydrochloric acid, you may have some of these symptoms . . . . . weak or brittle fingernails, hair loss, prominent capillaries around your nose and cheeks, bloating after meals, constipation, heaviness after eating beef or other high-protein foods, and sometimes diarhea. On the other hand, some people with low stomach acid have no abdominal complaints.
Asthma, allergies, rosacea, vitiligo, thyroid disorders, gallbladder disease, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus can also be an indicator of low stomach acid.
As you can see, knowing what to do is much more complicated than just swallowing a few calcium tablets. If you want to see how your minerals are doing, one of the best tests I know of is a hair mineral analysis. This test can also tell us if you have a hydrochloric acid deficiency. You can stop by the office, or call, and we'll tell you all the details.
Estrogen has no effect on new bone formation. Thus, estrogen does not reverse established osteoporosis. It only slows down your bone loss.
The role of progesterone, another female hormone, has been grossly overlooked. One of the major effects of progesterone is to stimulate new bone formation. In one experiment, 100 women were studied. With no estrogen, their bones lost 1.5% bone mass per year. When estrogen was given they didn't lose bone, but no new bone was formed. When the women were given progesterone they gained 5% new bone per year for an average of 15% in three years. In this study, some women gained as much as 20-25% by the end of the first year.
The balance of estrogen AND progesterone is what really matters for healthy bones. The most accurate way to determine whether or not your hormones are in the right balance is with a saliva hormone analysis. Blood testing tells which hormones are in your blood, but saliva tells how they are functioning in the tissues of your body, so it is much more reflective of what is actually going on in your body. Call the office and ask us to send you a test kit, or tell us that you are interested next time you're in the office.
Your progesterone levels can be increased by using a natural cream containing the hormone that you simply apply to your skin - it's absorbed and spread all through your body - this is the same idea as using a nicotine patch or nitroglycerine patch. The cream is better absorbed and utilized than taking progesterone in pill form. Therefore, it is much more effective than the prescription progesterone that is prescribed by most gynecologists.
Natural progesterone cream has many other health benefits too - it helps relieve pain and swelling, PMS symptoms, emdometriosis, prevents miscarriages and restores fertility, protects against breast cancer, and more. If you want to know more, call and ask for the audio tape on women's health problems. The audio cassette is $7.50 and is full of information on foods, vitamins, and natural treatments for women's problems.
In a study, patients were given antacids prior to brain surgery to prevent stress ulcers. It was found that the aluminum in the antacids was absorbed into their brain tissue. In another study, the same thing was done with patients undergoing a bone biopsy. Their bone tissue was also analyzed for the presence of aluminum, and sure enough, the concentrations of aluminum were elevated. Doctors had thought that antacids containing aluminum were safe but this evidence proves otherwise.
Aluminum binds up phosphorus in your intestines. And because phosphorus is an essential component of bone crystals, too much aluminum can weaken your bones. The aluminum concentration found in sodas in cans was 6 times higher than that of the same drinks in bottles. A good thing to do is buy soda in glass or plastic bottles instead of cans. The best thing to do is give up soda completely because the sugar is a serious bone robber. Artificial sweeteners aren't much better so it's best to get yourself into the habit of drinking water.
More suggestions of ways to eliminate aluminum: get rid of any aluminum pots and pans, stop using anti-perspirant deodorants with aluminum, and use baking soda/baking powder that says it is aluminum free. Say goodbye to American cheese because it can have about 50mg aluminum per slice.
Cadmium, found in high concentrations in cigarette smoke, depletes the good minerals that keep your bones strong.
Lead creeps into our water and air from industrial uses. The lead is then absorbed from the soil into the plants we eat. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that the water in 130 cities contained excessive amounts of lead. We can accumulate lead in our bodies from the foods we eat and the water we drink.
HEALTH HINT: There are two strategies to help you when it comes to these toxic metals: first, avoid them as much as possible, and second, have a hair mineral test to see if toxic minerals are a problem for you. If they have accumulated in your system, we can put you on certain vitamins and foods that will help your body get rid of them.
The are five major "bone mineral robbing" bandits : sugar, caffeine, refined grains (white bread), soda, and smoking.
Common sense has told us that these things are bad for us and now scientific research is telling us WHY these things are bad for us. Tomorrow take a simple step toward healthier bones and pick one of these areas to improve. Don't work on more than one thing at a time. Once you've mastered one area, then move to another.
The conclusions that I've made from all the information regarding osteoporosis just taking calcium, estrogen, and other medications to build your bones doesn't work taking calcium can contribute to other serious health problems your bones are mostly made mostly of calcium but the process of getting, and keeping, calcium in your bones is a very complicated process that has been oversimplified and just taking calcium supplements isn't helpful in most cases. our modern eating habits are the real cause of osteoporosis and until you reduce "bone-robbing" habits other approaches will not achieve lasting results.
If you'd like help in building healthy bones and preventing osteoporosis call my office for an appointment. If you have any questions you can either send an email (hyperbaricconsulting@gmail.com) or call and ask my receptionist for a free phone consultation (1-866-952-5483).
I hope this information has been helpful to you.
If you'd like to do further reading let me suggest a few books:
Preventing And Reversing Osteoporosis by Alan Gaby, M.D.
Supernutrition for Women by Ann Louise Gittleman
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause by John Lee, M.D.