Osteoporosis - Calcium Supplements Are Out
Is that calcium supplement that you are taking to prevent osteoporosis ending up in your artery walls rather than in your bones? Women who take calcium supplements maybe risking an adverse cardiac event, according to a study published in the BMJ.
Vitamin D & Osteoporosis
Mineral Supplements
This armchair statistical research study was one of those studies that tried to pool data from a number of different sources before these researchers were able to reveal a rather less than obvious correlation. Their findings were based upon rather flimsy evidence, and were accompanied by an editorial that claimed that further research was needed before their findings can be relied upon.[Bolland 2011]
Nevertheless, this would be a good time to discuss taking mineral supplements for good bone health.
Osteoporosis Prevention & Treatment with Vitamin D
Without vitamin D, the small intestine absorbs no more than 10-15% of dietary calcium. Any older adult, man or women, who is concerned about developing osteoporosis, should be taking a vitamin D supplement. The Natural Health Perspective recommends against the usual 400 IU a day dosage; in favor of the newer recommendations of between 4,000 and 5,000 IU a day of vitamin D supplementation.
You should be taking a Calcium and Magnesium supplement, rather than just calcium.
The biggest myth going around about preventing osteoporosis is that calcium builds strong bones. Nothing could be further from the truth. It has always been a combination of both calcium and magnesium in a bone health supplement. The Natural Health Perspective recommends an equal one to one ratio of both calcium and magnesium. The fact that these women were taking calcium without magnesium in the BMJ research study[Bolland 2011], along with a grossly inadequate amount of vitamin D alone could account for the negative findings.
Supplement with Vitamin D
Vitamin D and Bone Health
Recommendations to take 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day were developed a very long time ago, and assume that you are taking 400 IU or less of vitamin D a day. Further, they assume that your body would NOT be utilizing most of that calcium.
There is a vitamin D revolution going on, however. Those old recommendations regarding calcium supplementation have been made obsolete by what we now know about vitamin D, which has been discovered during from the last ten to fifteen years of research. The Natural Health Perspective recommends that everyone should work on eating a healthy whole food diet in order to meet their body's requirements for both calcium and magnesium. Once you have built up your blood levels of vitamin D to the newly recommended optimum level, everyone will need to take considerably less of these minerals, if any, in supplement form. The Natural Health Perspective expects that once the final word comes in, you would need to supplement with less than half to one third of those ancient 1,200 milligrams of calcium a day recommendations.
Vitamin D & Osteoporosis
Supplement with the Macro-Minerals: Calcium & Magnesium
In other words, after about 90 days of supplementing with 5,000 IU of vitamin D-3 a day, the Natural Health Perspective recommends that you should begin supplementing with the macro-minerals: calcium and magnesium. Avoid all oxide forms of mineral supplements since your body will absorb only 4% or less of those. The citrate supplement form of minerals is well absorbed. Take no more than half of the dosage recommended on the supplement label for calcium and magnesium.
Vitamin K-2, Menaquinone
Vitamin K-2, Menaquinone, prevents your calcium and magnesium supplements from being deposited in the wall of your arteries.
Arteriosclerosis is the hardening of the arteries due to calcium deposits. The best source of calcium and magnesium will always be from your healthy whole food diet. Preventing the calcification of your arteries, is why you must limit the amount of macro-minerals that you are taking with supplementation. Supplementing with 200 mcg of oil-soluble Vitamin K-2, daily, will help safeguard the walls of your blood vessels from your calcium and magnesium supplements.
After supplementing everyday with vitamin D and the macro-minerals for two years, any bones softening problems currently being experienced by you will have been significantly healed. Continue supplementing with an appropriate dosage of vitamin D, but lower your mineral dosage to only about between one fourth and one third of the recommended dosage for the macro-minerals; forever. In other words, take no more than 400 mg of calcium and 400 mg magnesium, daily as a supplement. Of course, be sure to also be supplementing with Vitamin K-2, Menaquinone.
Do NOT Overlook Exercise
Everyone should as a minimum participate in a ten minute a day fitness walking program. Regularly engaging in other weight-bearing exercise is highly recommended.
Please read our Medical Advice Disclaimer.
Please read our Nutritional Supplements Disclaimer.
References:
- Calcium
supplements with or without vitamin D and risk of cardiovascular events:
reanalysis of the Women's Health Initiative limited access dataset and
meta-analysis.
Bolland MJ, Grey A, Avenell A, Gamble GD, Reid IR.
BMJ. 2011 Apr 19;342:d2040. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d2040. Review.
PMID: 21505219 - [Editorial:] Do
calcium plus vitamin D supplements increase cardiovascular risk?
Abrahamsen B, Sahota O.
BMJ. 2011 Apr 19;342:d2080. doi: 10.1136/bmj.d2080. No abstract available.
PMID: 21505220
