If I were to tell you that you could bake a moist, delicious cake by simply dumping some flour and sugar in a pan and putting it in the oven, what would you think?
Hopefully, something like, “Um, Sher, what about all the other ingredients? Just flour and sugar will create a mess—not a cake.”
And you’d be right.
Well, the typical advice for osteoporosis is about as lacking…and the result is much more serious than a bad cake.
Here’s why:
Healthy bones—SO much more than calcium
About 20 different nutrients are required to build healthy bones! Much of the attention is paid to calcium, and to a lesser degree Vitamin D3, but there’s much more to it than that.
Other nutrients that are needed in the “recipe” for healthy bones include magnesium, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, potassium, phosphorus, Vitamin K2, folic acid and protein—but you practically NEVER hear about any of those when osteoporosis comes up.
This explains why our intense focus on calcium hasn’t made a dent in our rates of osteoporosis.
And loading up on calcium can ultimately do much more harm than good.
Excess calcium will eventually make its way to the muscles of the heart, the heart valves and the blood vessels, making them rigid and leading to cardiovascular disease!
A new surprise—Vitamin C plays a role too!
Vitamin C does several things to strengthen your bones!
- It mineralizes the bone and stimulates bone forming cells to grow.
- It prevents too much degradation of bone by inhibiting bone absorbing cells.
- It counteracts oxidative stress, which is the force behind aging.
- It is vital in the synthesis of collagen.
It also works with Vitamins D3 and K2 to direct calcium that you ingest from your food to where it belongs—and not in your heart and blood vessels.
Your gut helps too
Your gut largely determines whether or not you will develop osteoporosis for two reasons.
First, the health of your gut directly affects your ability to absorb nutrients.
If your body isn’t absorbing nutrients like it should, you can eat all the healthy foods in the world and take calcium supplements until the cows come home and you will still be at a great risk for osteoporosis (and other diseases as well).
The other gut-bone connection has to do with the neurotransmitter serotonin.
You might not know this, but 95 percent of your body’s serotonin is produced in your gut, and only 5 percent in your brain.
Although serotonin is your natural “feel-good” chemical, having too much of it can backfire on you.
High levels of serotonin in the gut can lead to lower bone density by lowering the formation of new bone cells (osteoblasts) and increasing the destruction of bone cells (with bone-nibbling cells called osteoclasts).
When your gut is healthy and working like it should, it produces the proper amount of serotonin. But when there is inflammation present, this kicks up serotonin production and hence your rate of bone-crumbling.
By the way, this is also the reason why the side effects of SSRI antidepressants include an increased risk of falls, fractures and bone loss.
Drugs are of limited benefit…and pose risks
Osteoporosis drugs like Fosamax or Boniva “work” by slowing bone resorption (breakdown). The less your bones are broken down, the denser they will appear to be.
But that’s only part of the problem with osteoporosis! You also need to encourage healthy bone development too.
Bones that are artificially made denser by drugs are not STRONGER bones, which is the secret the drug manufacturers don’t tell you. In fact, eventually your bones become weaker and more prone to fracture—because osteoporosis drugs do not build any NEW bone.
And like all other drugs in existence, osteoporosis drugs come with a long list of side effects that include:
- Asthenia (loss of strength; weakness)
- Allergic reactions
- Indigestion, diarrhea, vomiting, gastritis
- Tooth problems
- High blood cholesterol
- Joint and muscle pain
- Arthritis
- Headache
- Dizziness; vertigo
- Bronchitis
- Pneumonia
- Urinary tract infection
What IS the answer to preventing or slowing osteoporosis?
Here are some strategies you can take to the bank in terms of encouraging strong bone health:
1- Have a healthy diet of real foods
By eating a variety of real foods (including fruits, vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, healthy fats, eggs, nuts and dairy) you will help increase the likelihood that your body will get all 20 of those nutrients that are needed for healthy bones.
Drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of filtered water a day.
At the same time, minimize your reliance on processed foods, fast food, coffee and especially SODA.
2- Get regular exercise
Regular exercise has been proven to build muscle and bone mass.
It’s never too late—even if you have never exercised in your entire life!
Just get your doctor’s OK, pick an activity you will tolerate (even brisk walking is great!) and get going. Your bones will be very grateful (and so will your waistline, by the way).
3- Take a multi-vitamin formula
To help ensure that you’ve got all bases covered, consider taking a multi-vitamin formula like Super Core that contains a variety of bone-loving nutrients.
Super Core provides health- and bone-supportive doses of Vitamins D3 and K2, plus Vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, folic acid and phosphorus.
In addition, it also contains a blend of natural antioxidants, which can help counteract bone-weakening oxidative stress from free radicals.
And Super Core’s natural anti-inflammatories can help fight the inflammation that may be a trigger for bone-harmful excess serotonin production.
4- Support gut health with probiotics
When it comes to strong gut health, nothing beats a multi-strain probiotic formula like Super Shield.
A healthy gut absorbs nutrients better and produces proper amounts of serotonin…and in addition to supporting bone health, this is also why probiotics have been shown to help with depression too!
Super Shield’s complete, full-spectrum blend of 13 potent probiotic strains has been supporting the health of our happy clients worldwide for the last DECADE.
Results speak for themselves.
Osteoporosis doesn’t have to be part of your future, and even if you’re already experiencing bone loss, you can help turn that around!
Start now.
To your health,
Sherry Brescia
Found your site recently, I have a hiatus hernia & IBS. Constipation, have good diet. Have severe osteoporosis in lower spine. Had medication didn’t seem to work well. On ppi trying to come off it. Thanks for your help Sherri. Rose
A correction to your comment about Fosamax and Boniva. They do not help out your bones at all. They have proven to be only a coating on the bone but not bone building, and the DEXA scans falsely report the increase of bone because it can’t distinguish it from real bone. Both products are a scam, have increased bone breakage and are still supported in literature as a first line defense. Unfortunately the FDA does nothing about it and results in complacency of this fraud. Only money talks.
Hello Martha,
Thank you for your feedback! We are thrilled that you’ve been able to increase your bone mass via natural means and are honored to be a part of it. We applaud your efforts!
We will be happy to share your ionized trace minerals suggestion to Sherry, on your behalf. If there are any other products you’d like to see, please let us know!
Three years ago I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. Doctors wanted me to go on the medication that makes your bones denser but more brittle. I said no and did some research on my own. Reading your letters taught me to do that thank you. I ended up getting a hair tissue analysis and found I was overloaded with calcium. The ratios were all off. I stopped taking calcium and started taking ionized trace minerals in my water. Two years later I had another bone density test and had gained bone mass. I would love it if you would add that product to your list. I trust your products and would buy it from you.