“Calcium Balance” that Causes Osteoporosis

Calcium-rich nutrition is vital for whole-body health. But few people understand why normal amounts of calcium in the blood are causing an epidemic of osteoporosis (brittle bones).

Natural health pundits wisely stress the need for healthy food choices. Yet the vast majority of recommendations for a healthy diet never mention calcium or its major sources, milk, cheese, yogurt, fish like sardines and salmon, and even poppy, sesame, and chia seeds. Missing calcium is the prime reason why one in four women and one in eight men over the age of 50 have osteoporosis.

People who are concerned about calcium in the diet commonly ask their doctor, "Can’t you do a blood test to see if I’ve got enough calcium?" This is possible for magnesium, potassium, and iron, but not for calcium.

The reason is that the body to always remain the same carefully regulates “calcium balance”, the amount of calcium in the blood. Therefore, if you do not commonly drink three glasses of milk a day or get an equivalent amount of calcium other ways, the body must rob the needed calcium from bones. This is why you can have normal blood calcium on a diet of Coke and Twinkies and thus break a bone from a trivial injury.

The best way to prevent osteoporosis is to acknowledge early in life that failing to consume sufficient calcium is a pediatric disease. Then think like a banker, as money and osteoporosis have something in common. Bankers know that clients never become paupers later in life if they have built up reserves they can draw on during retirement. Similarly, bones will not snap like a dry twig if sufficient calcium has been stored early in life to keep aging bones strong.

Vitamin D is also essential to prevent osteoporosis. This vitamin helps to absorb calcium from the intestines. For six months of the year, most of us get sufficient D from sunlight that is unless we are housebound. But during the winter months, exposure to sunlight is limited. So, unless you drink milk, a product to which vitamin D is added, and eat fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, you are bound to be lacking in D.

As people age, their bones start to look like Swiss cheese. These "holey" bones cause backache and often result in a fractured hip. We often hear the story that an elderly person falling and breaking a hip. But another scenario is that while walking the frail hip joint fractures on its own accord causing the person to fall.

It is necessary at times to sound like a broken record. In other words, the advice needs to be repeated again and again. Drinking milk is not just for kids. It must be a lifetime habit. It is nature’s most perfect food. In addition to calcium, milk contains ample amounts of Vitamin B12 and many other nutrients.

But clearly, the statistics show that people are not getting the message. Supplementation of calcium is a convenient and safe alternative.

But be cautious, as not all calcium products are the same. Most use calcium derived from limestone, a sedimentary rock. Look instead for Certified Naturals Plant-Source Calcium Magnesium containing Aquamin. This calcium supplement comes from calcified red algae that contain 74 minerals including calcium and magnesium. 

Clinical studies show that Aquamin decreases the activity of osteocytes that absorb bone and increases the activity of osteoblasts that build up the bone. Aquamin works well with vitamin K2 that directs calcium into bones rather than arteries. Equally, vital, added vitamin D helps to absorb calcium from the gastrointestinal tract and plant-based Aquamin is more slowly absorbed, so there is no sudden harmful spike in blood calcium.

Natural remedies are hard to beat. After all, our bodies have been evolving for eons in synergy with the gifts of the natural world. Ensuring daily intake of calcium, magnesium and other minerals will help prevent bones from being robbed.