Osteoporosis: A Fresh Review
By Walter Sorochan Emeritus Professor San Diego State University

Posted May 28, 2010] Updated November 16, 2021.  Disclaimer

  What's the problem?   Americans are creating their own osteoporosis by the way they live.  Meanwhile, doctors in the past treated their patient's supposedly weak bone "disease" by prescribing calcium and inadvertently created more health problems. The general consensus now is that prescribing just calcium to prevent osteoporosis is doing more harm than good. Lack of good information, in turn, has made osteoporosis appear more complicated than it really is. But all this is about to change.

 Misinformation: 

osteoporosisThere is a great deal of misinformation about osteoporosis in organized medicine.  Article by Adams: Disease Illusion is no longer active.  Medicine is a highly lucrative disease -- more than 17 billion dollars were spent treating osteoporosis in 2001 alone  Adams: review of osteoporosis  The various medical organizations, are not up to date on the latest research.  Information in newspapers, TV and the internet is usually incomplete and misleading and this adds to the confusion the public has about osteoporosis. Many medical doctors [ not all ] are treating suspected osteoporosis with calcium supplements that can cause an imbalance of co-factors causing other health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, gall stones, bone spurs and glaucoma. Stating the implications of these side-effects in another way, medical doctors, in spite of good intentions, are often making the health condition of their patients worse and inadvertently practicing bad medicine!

 What is osteoporosis? 

osteo femur

"Osteoporosis" originates from `osteo`, which means bone, and `porosis` which implies thinning or becoming more porous. [ This definition may be different from other organizations ] Hence, osteoporosis literally means `thinning of bone.`[ as high-lighted in yellow in the image above ] Medically speaking, osteoporosis is a disease of the bone in which the bone mineral density (BMD) is reduced which means one has a low bone mass and deteriorating bone tissue. In simple words, the bones become thin, brittle and may be easily broken. Bone mass (bone density) is the amount of bone present in the skeletal structure. The higher the density the stronger are the bones. Bone density is strongly influenced by genetic factors, which in turn are sometimes modified by life style, environmental factors and medications.

Anyone can get osteoporosis, but women are more likely to get it than men. They have lighter bones than men, and they lose bone rapidly after menopause, because their bodies are producing less estrogen. But men aren`t immune, especially if they drink heavily, smoke or have taken steroid drugs.

Osteoporosis itself has no specific symptoms; its main consequence is the increased risk of bone fractures.

Prevalence:

“According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), osteoporosis is a major public health threat for and estimated 44 million Americans, or 55% of people age 50 and older. In the disease, and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass, placing them at increased risk for osteoporosis. In 2005, osteoporosis-related fractures were responsible for an estimated $19 billion in costs. By 2005--due to the expanding numbers of people living longer—experts predict that these costs will rise to approximately $25.3 billion.”

 Causes of osteoporosis:

Misinformation contributes to the confusion about osteoporosis. Many articles provide a small piece of information similar to viewing a tree instead of a forest.  Just as the tree blocks the view of the forest and one never sees the big forest, so misinformation clouds medical practice in dealing objectively with osteoporosis. The media makes osteoporosis more complex than it really is.

A lengthy review of scientific and research articles leads this reviewer to agree with Mike Adams Adams: review of osteoporosis and others  Article by Ignelzi: Bone up on bone strength is no longer active.  Isaacs: natural prevention of osteoporosis    Bad eating causes diseases  that there are three primary causes of osteoporosis: 

1.  Consumption of highly acidic foods and junk food ingredients.
2.  Lack of physical activity, causing bone mass.
3.  Lack of exposure to natural sunlight or lack of vitamin D.
"Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless." Dr. Michael Holick
4.  Lack of a balance of supporting co-factor ratios.

Three causes are simplified and summarized below by Mike Adams:  Adams: review of osteoporosis

# 1 Cause:  "The strong primary dietary cause of osteoporosis is the consumption of highly acidic foods and food ingredients, such as refined white sugar, refined white flour, high-fructose corn syrup, soft drinks, cookies, candies, sweets, desserts, and anything containing sweeteners. Something rather destructive happens in your body when you consume acidic ingredients. Your blood must maintain a specific pH level in order to support human health. If your pH varies from a level of about 7.1, you start to suffer rather destructive side effects, and if it strays extremely far from 7.1, you will die within a matter of minutes. So the body does everything possible to make sure that your blood maintains a healthy pH level. When you consume highly acidic foods, your body has to come up with a strategy for buffering the acidity of those foods with alkaline minerals, and the way it does that is by reaching into your skeletal system to find those alkaline minerals such as calcium and magnesium, then releasing those into your bloodstream to buffer the acidity of the food ingredients you have absorbed. In this way, your body can balance the pH of its blood and keep you alive.

So every time you drink a soft drink, or drink a product containing corn syrup or sugar, you are effectively taking a few grams of bone density right out of your skeletal system. This gets passed through your kidneys, where it can also contribute to kidney stones, by the way, and then leaves your body in your urine. In a very real sense then, you are pissing away your bones when you consume refined sugars and refined white flour. Anything that's highly acidic will cause this effect in your body.

This is the number one dietary cause of osteoporosis -- not a lack of calcium. And for many women, especially older women, it comes in the form of the sugar in their morning cup of coffee. They start their day with a drink that depletes their bone mass. And then they continue on with the day engaging in other lifestyle habits that deplete their bones even further. A couple of calcium supplements cannot undo all this damage.

To prevent losing your bone mass to dietary causes, simply avoid consuming any white flour, processed sugars, added sugars, soft drinks, sweets, candies, breads, or any other ingredients that are made with refined carbohydrates. Essentially, if you follow the low-carb diet, you will be well on your way to avoiding refined carbohydrates -- but beware -- red meat is also highly acidic. In fact, meat products are acidic in nature and will contribute to the acidity of your diet. If you want to have an alkaline diet, you need to eat fresh vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, onions, celery, and other green, leafy vegetables. You need to get plenty of calcium and magnesium from healthy sources such as organic, plant-based vitamins. You also need to supplement your diet with various sea vegetables, which are naturally alkaline. Those include seaweed, kelp, and many others. And one of my favorite foods for supporting an alkaline diet is, of course, sprouts. I love sunflower sprouts, broccoli sprouts, clover sprouts, and other varieties. These are all considered super-foods because they have extremely high nutrient density."

#2 Cause: "The second cause of osteoporosis, or loss of bone mass, is lack of physical activity, and to understand this, you have to look at the miracle of the human body and understand how the human body knows to build bone mass in the first place. Bones are piezo-electric devices. As such devices, they give off an electric current when they are physically stressed. In other words, if you take a bone, and put it on a lab table and apply pressure to it, it will actually produce an electric charge. In your body, this electric charge attracts a matrix of minerals to the location that's being stressed where they add to the bone mass density and essentially build bigger and stronger bones.

In other words, by simply getting up and standing on your legs, you are telling your body you need to build stronger leg bones. If you walk on a regular basis, you're telling your body you need stronger hips. And the more you engage in these frequent stresses of your bones, the stronger your bones get. Your body has a very strong adaptation response to the activities that you choose to pursue, and this is one of those adaptation responses. In my book, it's a rather miraculous response because it allows the human body to adapt over time to almost any level of physical activity you choose to pursue.

Now, this is all basic stuff. This is really Anatomy and Physiology 101. These are the basics, right here, and yet I'm amazed at how many doctors neglect to tell their patients about the importance of physical exercise. Instead, they tend to treat osteoporosis with nothing but drugs. They imagine that osteoporosis is caused by a lack of prescription drugs, and therefore drugs are the only thing that can treat it. In fact, drugs are only marginally effective. The body has a much stronger, built-in system for reversing brittle bones disease, or osteoporosis if you want to call it that, and that mechanism is to simply stress your bones and then let your body build up higher bone density on its own. You don't even have to think about it -- all you have to do is stress your bones. Your body builds stronger bones automatically.

Now, to see some examples of why what I'm telling you is true, take a look at what happens to astronauts when they orbit the planet in zero gravity environments. The longer they stay in zero gravity, the more bone mass they start to lose. If they stay in zero gravity for several months, the bones literally become mushy (this is one of the major problems with long-term space travel). Their heads get spherical like a balloon and start to lose their earthly shape. When they eventually come back to earth, some astronauts can hardly walk at all -- their bodies have lost the ability to support their own weight, and they have to undergo physical rehab (gravity training, basically) in the earth's gravity in order for their body to readapt to an environment that has to support their body weight.

It can happen that fast, and if you sit on the couch most of the day, or lay in bed most of the day, and don't expose your body to earth's gravity by standing or walking, you are essentially giving yourself a sort of zero gravity treatment -- you're telling your body that you don't need your bones, and therefore your body will get rid its "extra" bone mass. See, the body is a highly efficient machine. The body lets go of things that you don't absolutely need. That's because during human evolution, calories were scarce, and it didn't make strategic sense for an organism to invest caloric energy in muscle mass or bone mass that wasn't needed. That's why if you stop working out you'll lose muscle mass, and if you stop walking and stressing your bones, you will lose bone mass. Once again, this is really basic stuff -- there's nothing complex in this at all. Osteoporosis is simply a name given to a set of symptoms that will appear when a person stops exercising their body and stops stressing their bones. Physicians never describe it in these terms, of course. They want to make it sound complicated, technical, and out of your intellectual range. But if you can understand the effects of gravity and the acidity of unhealthful foods, you already know all you need to know about preventing osteoporosis.

With all of that in mind, it's very easy to see how you can prevent and even reverse osteoporosis regardless of your current age. The first thing is, of course, to shift to a highly alkaline diet and avoid all acidic food and drinks. The second thing is to engage in regular physical exercise, such as walking, jogging, swimming, cycling and so on. Of course, you should always be working with a health professional before undergoing any new exercise program to make sure that you're capable of handling it, but even if you can't engage in something like jogging, there's always something you can do -- there's some way you can move your body, even if it means sitting in a chair and pumping some dumbbells a few times a day.

In all of this, I must also stress the importance of undergoing strength training. Nothing increases your bone density like strength training. And I'm talking about going to the gym and pushing weights on weight machines. This will increase your bone mass density so rapidly that it will absolutely stun you and your doctors. No prescription drug can come close to duplicating the effectiveness of strength training on your bone mass.

See, when you lift your own body, you're stressing your bones to a certain degree, and that's helping build bone mass to a limit. But when you start adding weight to your body and lifting that as well as your body weight, you're telling your body that you need even more density in your bones. So, if you put 100 pounds on your shoulders and squat that weight using your leg muscles and your pelvis for support, you are essentially telling your body that you need stronger leg muscles and a stronger skeletal system to support that weight. This gives you a higher degree of adaptive response than you could possibly achieve from lifting only your body weight. So strength training is absolutely essential, especially for elderly people who wish to prevent or reverse osteoporosis, and yet it is precisely elderly people who tend to avoid strength training because they carry the misconception that it's an activity for young people only. But in reality, it is older people who need it far more than younger people."

# 3 Cause:  "Moving onto the third part of osteoporosis, let's talk about natural sunlight. When you don't get natural sunlight, your body thinks that you're in hibernation, in a sense. And a lot of things start to go wrong with your body and your mind when you lack natural sunlight on your skin. Osteoporosis is one of those things. That's because when you expose your skin to sunlight, your body automatically generates vitamin D, and vitamin D is essential for using calcium to build increased bone mass. Without vitamin D in your body, your body cannot use the calcium that you're eating in your diet. So you could be eating all the calcium in the world, and you could be exercising every day, but if you're not getting sunlight on your skin, and you're not getting vitamin D into your body, and you don't have the fundamental building blocks that your body needs to add to its own bone mass. This will inevitably result in a great loss of bone mass or an inability to add any new bone mass.

Natural sunlight is absolutely essential to this process. You have to get it on your skin, on a frequent basis, without sunscreen. The next best thing if you can't get natural sunlight is to take vitamin D supplements such as cod liver oil. You can also get vitamin D in other forms, but cod liver oil is the best form available. You can find it any health food store. But remember you can make vitamin D yourself simply by getting some sunlight on your skin (your body is a living, breathing vitamin D factory...).

The bottom line is that if you put all these three together -- diet, physical exercise, and exposure to natural sunlight -- you can quite easily prevent and even reverse osteoporosis. This is a very simple disease. It has a few simple causes, and it's incredibly easy to reverse. You do not need prescription drugs to treat this disease. You do not need surgical procedures or other radical medical therapies. Osteoporosis is a natural result of poor dietary and lifestyle habits, and it can be easily reversed in a matter of months by changing what you do on a daily basis."

New research discloses that nutrients do not work in isolation by themselves; as had been perceived previously by the medical establishment.  Instead they work collectively in a reinforcing manner to help nutrients become active and function.  For example, while calcium needs magnesium for absorption, it affects the body in ways that are opposite to that of magnesium.  Magnesium counteracts and regulates the influence of calcium; slows the heart while calcium speeds it up.  Calcium needs vitamin D, as well as other nutrients, referred to as co-factors, in order to maintain adequate blood levels, absorb calcium into the blood  and other functions in the body.  Such a collaborative and supporting relationship has been overlooked and ignored by researchers and the medical profession.  Many nutritional researches were improperly designed and their findings were flawed and misinterpreted.

Although new information provides many new insights into how calcium and co-factor nutrients work, there is still very important information about calcium that we do not know.  For example, the most pressing need is the most appropriate working ratio between calcium and magnesium and cofactors.  Manufacturers of nutrient supplements are making best guesses about co-factor ratios, with very little supporting scientific evidence.  This is a very important reason for medical doctors to refrain from prescribing calcium and other co-factorial nutrients until we have better definitive information. Less harm is done by following the suggestions of this review; focusing on the recommendations below. 

What has been made out to be a complex problem in dealing with osteoporosis is perceived by strong Adams and others  Article by Ignelzi: Bone up on bone strength is no longer active.  Isaacs: natural prevention of osteoporosis   to be a simple issue of indifference, ignorance [ bad habits ] of lifestyle and misinformation.  But osteoporosis is prevalent today because, in spite of lack of good and available information and well intended but misguided intentions of the medical profession, the general public lacks the will and discipline to live a healthier life style.  The American culture lacks government reinforcements for a healthier life style.

 Fixing osteoporosis:
Alkali Diet
Exercise
Vit D
Foods alkali
dancers2
sun D

Western medicine has focused on relieving the pain and discomfort of osteoporosis with drug medications and surgery. A review of medical research suggests a less costly and more rewarding approach by relieving the causes of the disorder instead of relieving pain and discomfort.   Additional information about osteoporosis is available at: Health related issues

 Recommendations:  focus on changing life styles

 Healers:  Instead of directly prescribing calcium medications or some other healing modality, healers should analyze behavioral-life styles with their patients/clients:

1.  three day diet-food analysis to identify food intake of nutrients
2.  do a blood test for nutrients, including co-factors
3.  analyze sun exposure and vitamin D status
4.  try to adjust co-factor ratios on an experimental basis that respects biochemical individuality and needs
5.  prescribe physical activity/exercise as needed
6.  on basis of the above analyses, thereafter prescribe therapy
7.  provide support for change by monitoring progress of patients

 Individuals:  work with their therapist/medical doctor on the following:

1.  do a three day diet analysis
2.  request vitamin D, calcium and magnesium blood tests
3.  get adequate sun [ UVB ] exposure or/and supplement with vitamin D
4.  adapt an alkali diet
5.  participate in minimum of 30 minutes  of appropriate exercise at least four times a week

kick the habit  Conclusion:   Everyone needs to kick the bad habits!  Osteoporosis is a problem of life style and less of being a medicalized disease.  We need a public relations approach to help the lay public, the healing professionals and politicians understand the causes of this bone-health problem. Article by Bradley Govt making us sick is no longer active.  Article by Gillette Corp greed makes you sick is no longer active.  Article by Gordon: Society making us sick is no longer active.  |  Article by Horne: What makes us sick is no longer active.   Morelli: Enough to make you sick  Obrien: Food making us sick | Maher Video: Govt makes us sick |  Article by Satel: Inequality makes you sick is no longer active. Our culture [ individuals, regulating agencies, mass media, education, FDA, government, politicians and the healing professions ] needs to adopt the proper orthobiosis attitude; that is .... the right or proper style of living to prevent and treat this health disorder. We need a coordinated effort with leadership coming from the federal, state and local governments to bring about immediate change. Currently we do not have "economic incentive" systems in place to encourage people to live healthier lives! Article by MSNBC: Restaurants make kids sick is no longer active.  US Dept HW: Exercise needed for health    US censoring research Morelli: Enough to make you sick

  More information is presented below for those wanting more details.

Example of eating a descent diet: Article by Buishas: Medicine by nature arthritis is no longer active.

[ There are some things that you can do to increase your joint health from a food perspective. ]
 
Eat more sulfur-containing foods; eat foods like onions, garlic, slow-cooked beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, etc.
Eat less sugar foods that are empty calorie foods.
Eat whole foods and no processed foods.
Eat whole grained bread versus white bread.
Eat brown rice versus white rice.
Eat fresh fruits like oranges and apples, don’t drink the juice.
Eat foods that will rot and spoil, but eat them before they do.
Eat food that will sustain life. Food that will rot and spoil will sustain life.
Eat a cave man type diet. A cave man diet is a diet without bottles, cans, packages, boxes, or wrappers. The idea is to eat as if we didn’t eat all of the convenience foods of today.
Eat simply and eat fresh. alkali diet
Cook at home so you can control ingredients and calories in the meal
 Some Risk Factors for Osteoporosis 
 Risk factors you can’t change: 
  17dot1a  Getting older
  17dot1a  Being a woman
  17dot1a  Being Caucasian or Asian
  17dot1a  Having a family history of osteoporosis or fractures

  Modifiable risk factors:  
  117dot4a Cigarette smoking
  117dot4a Excessive alcohol consumption
  117dot4a Inactive lifestyle or prolonged bed rest
  117dot4a Poor nutrition, particularly insufficient calcium and vitamin D
  117dot4a Use of certain medications like oral glucocorticoids and some anticonvulsants
  117dot4a Low estrogen levels in women or low testosterone levels in men
  117dot4a Anorexia
Source: National Institutes of Health

This above list by NIH is incomplete. Below is a more extensive list:

 Factors Contributing to the Loss of Bone Density and Strength:  acu-cell osteo

Drinking too many sodas:  Excess phosphorus intake through drinking too many sodas, particularly colas, causes the body to balance this phosphorus by drawing calcium from the bones.  corn syrup

Magnesium deficiency is a huge factor for osteoporosis. Magnesium is actually more important than calcium for bone growth and bone density. As many as 90 percent or more of us are deficient in magnesium.

Estrogen deficiency among women  (a group of hormones) post menopause has been correlated to a rapid reduction in BMD.

Aging:  The increased risk of falling associated with aging, leads to fractures of the wrist, spine and hip, and in many instances the fall is actually caused by the breaking of a bone when taking a step, especially when stepping downward on stairs or stepping off porches.

Other hormone deficiency states can lead to osteoporosis, such as testosterone deficiency. Glucocorticoid or thyroxine excess states also lead to osteoporosis.

Malnutrition:  Not eating foods rich in Calcium, Vitamin D and Phosphorous can also cause bone loss. Calcium and/or vitamin D deficiency from malnutrition also increases the risk of osteoporosis.

Medicines can inhibit the body`s ability to absorb calcium. This may cause the bones to weaken. These medications include cortisone/corticosteroids, anticoagulants, thyroid supplements, and some anti-convulsive drugs.

Illnesses or diseases: such as over-active thyroid, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis may also cause bone loss. A disease such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia can cause changes in a person`s estrogen level and lead to osteoporosis.

Family history: 

Sedentary lifestyle is a major factor in osteoporosis. Exercise strengthens bones - inactivity encourages the body not to rebuild unused resources.

Consuming too much fat in our diets can contribute to osteoporosis as well. Vegetarians are shown to have greater bone mass than meat eaters.

Excess alcohol consumption interferes with calcium absorption.

Drinking too much coffee. A study of 84,484 patients showed a correlation between bone fractures and heavy coffee consumption.

Smoking:   particularly heavy smoking, boosts bone loss.

Vitamin D deficiency:   which can be obtained by exposure (not over-exposure) to sunlight, is also an important factor in bone loss. Vitamin D

Vitamin K deficiency:   in the system is an often overlooked contributor to osteoporosis. New research has shown that this little known vitamin is the key to calcium balance in the body.

Trace minerals: which most of us are deficient in due to our mineral depleted soils, are necessary for the transport and absorption of calcium.

Prescription drugs can increase bone loss. These include cortisone, blood thinners, antacids containing aluminum, chemotherapy, lithium, and certain antibiotics.

Birth control pills reduce the folic acid content in the body.

Excess consumption of dairy products actually causes bone loss, contrary to what many might believe. This is due to the high animal fat content in dairy products, and the lack of CLA in modern dairy products.

Junk foods:  Excess salt and sugar consumption in junk foods leach calcium from the bones into the urine.

 Signs and Symptoms of Osteoarthritis: 

  • early morning joint stiffness and pain
  • loss or restriction of joint mobility
  • pain that is worse after use
  • stiffness after periods of rest
  • creaking/cracking of joints after movement (also known as crepitus)
  • tenderness and swelling in certain areas
  • restricted mobility
  • pain in the joint before or during changes in the weather
  • deformity of the joints

 Common Drugs used to treat Osteoporosis include:  acu-cell osteo

Evista SERM: elective Estrogen Receptor Modulators,
Calcimar, Miacalcin: (injectable calcitonin, and nasal spray calcitonin), (injectable parathyroid hormone),
Fosamax, Actonel, Didronel: (oral bisphosphonates),
Aredia, Zometa: (injectable bisphosphonates),
Reclast, Aclasta: (once a year injectable bisphosphonates).
 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 
SERM Potential side effects: experienced with are hot flashes, sinusitis, fever, or flu-like symptoms and/or increased incidence of infections, headaches, joint pain, indigestion, abdominal pain, insomnia, weight gain, urinary / gynecological problems, dizziness, leg cramps.
Calcitonin Potential side effects: experienced with calcitonin spray are nasal irritations, runny nose, nosebleeds, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, swelling of lips, tongue, or face.  With injectable calcitonin, they are skin rash and /or flushing, nausea, vomiting, and allergic reactions similar to those with the spray.
Teriparatide (Forteo): Potential side effects:  experienced with Teriparatide (Forteo) are joint pains, headaches, leg cramps, angina, hypertension, shortness of breath, nausea, various digestive problems, depression, insomnia, fatigue, rhinitis, dizziness, skin rash and sweating.
Bisphosphonates Potential side effects:experienced with bisphosphonates include heartburn and various digestive problems, allergic reactions, esophageal ulcer, esophageal cancer, difficulty swallowing, headaches, joint / muscle painor cramps, fever / flu-like symptoms, serious atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm), and osteonecrosis of the jaw.  This is a condition in which the bone tissue in the jaw fails to heal after minor trauma such as a tooth extraction, causing the bone to be exposed. The exposure can eventually lead to infection and fracture and may require long-term antibiotic therapy, or surgery to remove the dying bone tissue.  Patients using bisphosphonates should avoid tooth extractions and other major dental work while on the drugs.

REMINDER Alert:  These drugs may not be the best way to heal or prevent osteoporosis.

References:

Acu Cell Disorders, “Osteoporosis:  Nutritional Causes, Prevention & Therapies,”  [ World Health Organization standards for the diagnosis of Osteoporosis ]  acu-cell osteo

Adams Mike, “Osteoporosis remains undiagnosed in millions of Americans; here's how to beat the disease with nutrition, exercise and sunlight,” Natural News, July 31, 2004.  Adams: review of osteoporosis

Adams Mike, "The illusion of a disease," Wellness Beyond.  Article by Adams: Disease Illusion is no longer active.

Bradley Anthony B., "Too Much Government Makes Us Sick," Action Institute, September 02, 2009.   Bradley Govt making us sick

Chaganti R. K., N. Parimi, P. Cawthon, T. L. Dam, M. C. Nevitt, N. E. Lane, “Association of 25-hydroxyvitamin D with prevalent osteoarthritis of the hip in elderly men: The osteoporotic fractures in men study,” Wiley Interscience, October 26, 2009.   Article by Chaganti Fractures is no longer active.

Chustecka Zosia, “Vitamin-D deficiency increases pain of knee OA,” Mescape Medical News, December 23, 2004. 

A study in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) has found that individuals who were vitamin-D deficient reported more pain and disability than those with normal levels, while another study in general rheumatology patients presenting with chronic musculoskeletal pain found a high percentage of patients with vitamin-D deficiency.

Cranney A., Weiler HA., O’Donnell S., Puil L.,” Summary of evidence-based review on vitamin D efficacy and safety in relation to bone health,”  Am J Clin Nutr, August, 2008;88(2):513S-519S.    Summary vit D research & health

Dean Carolyn, “The miracle of magnesium,” Vitality, Article by Dean: Miracle of magnesium is no longer active.

Diagnosis of bone density, March 22, 2009: Diagnosis of bone density

Dimai, H.P., et al. Daily oral magnesium supplementation suppresses bone turnover in young adult males. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, Vol. 83, August 1998, pp. 2742-48.  Dimai magnesium-bone

Dreosti, Ivor E. Magnesium status and health. Nutrition Reviews, Vol. 53, No. 9, September 1995, pp. S23 - S27Dreosti magnesium-bone

DRI, "Table 3. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for the Bone Related Nutrients," Journal of the American College of Nutrition. { Superb list of references ]   Article by DRI bone cofactors is no longer active.

"The purpose of this paper is to review the main nutritional determinants of bone health throughout different stages of life and discuss nutritional strategies for primary (during young age) and secondary (later in life) prevention of osteoporosis. Each nutrient is discussed separately; however, many nutrients are co-dependent, and they may interact not only among themselves, but with other genetic and environmental factors. The complexity of these interactions is probably the reason many studies have controversial or inconsistent findings regarding the effects of single nutrients or groups of nutrients in bone health."

"the acid ash producing diets like meats (especially if consumed for a long time) might contribute to the depletion of calcium and increased risk of osteoporosis, as opposed to fruits and vegetables with an alkaline and dairy products with a neutral ash. Consistent with this notion is a study by Sebastian et al. who reversed meat induced increased urinary Ca and negative Ca balance with potassium carbonate. Therefore, consumption of meat based diets might contribute to the depletion of calcium and increased risk of osteoporosis as supported by a cross sectional study by Abelow et al. More carefully designed and controlled studies are needed to examine and clarify these associations.!"

"A substantial effort is being made toward understanding the effect of nutrients, particularly Ca and vitamin D, on bone accretion during youth and bone loss during aging. A wealth of new knowledge is now available. Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disorder, and, despite the considerable influence of heredity, bone health depends on the whole range of other nutrients and foods as well as the environmental factors. The prolonged deficiency or excess of one or the combination of several, as well as the changes in requirements of those nutrients caused by physiological and metabolic changes, might contribute to osteoporosis. It is also necessary to account for the interaction between different factors, nutritional, environmental, life style and heredity, to understand the complexity of bone, development of osteoporosis and subsequent fractures. Although our understanding of nutrients and other components affecting bone health continues to grow, the process of acquiring knowledge is not over. Referring to the Oscar Wilde’s adage: "Truth is seldom pure and never simple," we realize that what is considered a truth now might change, but as long as we keep with our quest, the more certain we will become that what we know is true."

Fallon Sally and Mary G. Enig, “ Dem Bones: Do high protein diets cause bone loss?” Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation Quarterly Journal, (619) 574-7763. January 1, 1999.

Gillett Michelle, "Corporate greed can literally make you sick," The Brookshire Eagle, March 25, 2010.  Article by Gillette Corp greed makes you sick is no longer active.

Gordon Tash and Becs Griffiths, "Why society is making us sick," Trapese 03 chaps5_6, September 3, 2007. Article by Gordon: Society making us sick is no longer active.

Higdon Jane, ”Preventing Osteoporosis through Diet and Lifestyle,” LINUS PAULING INSTITUTE SPRING/SUMMER 2005 RESEARCH REPORT, May 2005. Article by Higdon: osteoporosis prevention is no longer active.

Holick Michael, “Arthritis and vitamin D," Vitamin D health.org, November 27, 2008.   Holick: Vit D and osteoporosis  |   Holick: Osteomalacia and Vitamin D  |  

Horne Tammy, "WHAT REALLY MAKES US SICK," Alberta Views, OCT/NOV 2005.  Article by Horne: What makes us sick is no longer active.

Hunt Curtis, "The Biochemical Effects of Physiologic Amounts of Dietary Boron in Animal Nutrition Models," Environmental Health Perspectives, 102, Supplement 7, November 1994. Article by Hunt: Boron and Vit D is no longer active.

Ignelzi R.J., "Bone up on bone stregth," San Diego Union Tribune, May 18, 2010.  Article by Ignelzi: Bone up on bone strength is no longer active." Knowledge of how to build calcium and an action plan of diet and exercise are your best defense against osteoporosis.

Ilich Jasminka Z. and Jane E. Kerstetter, "Nutrition in Bone Health Revisited: A Story Beyond Calcium," Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 19, No. 6, 715-737 (2000)  Artcle by Ilich: Bone story is no longer active.

IMVA, “Calcification and Its Treatment with Magnesium and Sodium iosulfate,” Magnesium for Life.   Article by IMVA: Magnesium treatment of calcium is no longer active.

International Osteoporosis Foundation, "Diagnosis and follow up,"  2009.   Diagnosis and follow up

Isaacs Tony, “How to Beat and Prevent Osteoporosis Naturally,” Natural News.com, August 14, 2009 Isaacs: natural prevention of osteoporosis

Larsen, Hans R., “Magnesium and Bone Mass,” AFIB Report,   magnesium bone mass  |   magnesium and bone

Life Extension, "Medications side effects," Life Extension magazine, March 2003.  Article by Life extension: Biochemical individuality is no longer active.
"The basis of individual variation is well known. People differ greatly in how they absorb, metabolize and eliminate drugs. The new science of pharmacogenetics has revealed wide variations in the efficiency of people's liver enzymes in processing drugs. People also differ in the sensitivity of their tissues to medication effects. These factors change with age, and many people become more sensitive as they get older."

Maher Bill, "There's no money to be made from healthy people," Nature mom's blog,  November 01, 2007. 


Maher Video: Govt makes us sick

Moynihan Ray, Alan Cassels, "Selling Sickness," Nation Books publisher, 2005.  [ How the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us into patients ]  Article by Moynihan Selling sickness is no longer active.

  • Prologue: selling sickness
  • Selling to everyone : high cholesterol
  • Doughnuts for the doctors : depression
  • Working with celebrities : menopause
  • Partnering with patients : attention deficit disorder
  • Making risks into medical conditions : high blood pressure
  • Advertising disease : premenstrual dysphoric disorder
  • Shaping public perceptions : social anxiety disorder
  • Testing the markets : osteoporosis
  • Taming the watchdogs : irritable bowel syndrome
  • Subverting the selling : female sexual dysfunction

Morelli Carlo, "Enough to make you sick," SOCIALIST REVIEW, April 2001.  Morelli: Enough to make you sick  

MSNBC, "Restaurant kids’ meals loaded with calories," Aug 4, 2008. Article by MSNBC: Restaurants make kids sick is no longer active. Healthy choices hard to find at many top chains, consumer group reports. “The report looked into the nutritional quality of kids’ meals at 13 major restaurant chains. The center found 93 percent of 1,474 possible choices at the 13 chains exceed 430 calories — an amount that is one-third of what the National Institute of Medicine recommends that children ages 4 through 8 should consume in a day.“

National Osteoporosis Foundation, 

Obrien Robyn, "The unhealthy truth: How food is making us sick," Amazon.com book, May 5, 2009.  Obrien: Food making us sick

Orthmolecular Medicine, "DOCTORS SAY: US NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE IS CENSORING ACCESS TO NUTRITIONAL RESEARCH," Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 17, 2007. US censoring research

Orthomolecular Medicine, "Vitamin D Boosts Health, Cuts Cancer Risk in Half," Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 3, 2007.   Orthomolecular Med and vit D  

Rehak NN, Cecco SA, Csako G., "Biochemical composition and electrolyte balance of "unstimulated" whole human saliva,"   Clin. Chem.Lab Med. 2000;38:335-43.

Rosenberg Martha, "Big Pharma Gone Wild," Alter Net, February 3 2009.  Article by Rosenberg: Pharma impact on society is no longer active.

Roth Ronald, “Osteoporosis …,” Acu-cell Disorders.  April 19, 2010.  Roth: Osteo disorders

Roux c., et, “New insights into the role of vitamin D and calcium in osteoporosis management: an expert roundtable discussion,” Curr Med Res Opin, May; 24, 2008 (5):1363-70. Epub 2008 Apr 2. 

Ryder, K.M. et al. Magnesium Intake from Food and Supplements Is Associated with Bone Mineral Density in Healthy Older White Subjects. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol. 53, November 2005, pp. 1875-80  Ryder: magnesium and bone

Sahni, S, Hannan, MT, Blumberg, J, et al. 2009. Protective effect of total carotenoid and lycopene intake on the risk of hip fracture: A 17-year follow-up from the Framingham Osteoporosis Study. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 24(6):1086-1094., October 25, 2009. 

Satel Sally and Theodore R. Marmor, "Does Inequality Make You Sick?"  American Enterprise Institute for Public Research, The Weekly Standard | July 16, 2001. Article by Satel: Inequality makes you sick is no longer active.

Sullivan Krispin , "The Miracle of Vitamin D," The Weston Price Foundation.  Miracle-of-Vitamin-D

"Calcium is essential for bone, joint, muscle and ligament health, while magnesium is necessary for calcium’s proper incorporation into bone, by preventing a buildup of calcium into the soft tissues and joints.... Most people, though, consume too much calcium and not enough magnesium" - (Burton Goldberg Group, Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide, Future Medicine Publishing, Inc. WA, p. 533).

US Dept of Health and Welfare, "Physical Activity Fundamental To Preventing Disease," USDHW, June 20, 2002.   US Dept HW: Exercise needed for health

Welsh Nancy F, Zalesznik Dori, Dorothy Caputo, [ Chaganti R et la ], “ Low vit D linked to OA,”  MedPage Today, February 09, 2010.   Article by Welsh vitamin D osteo hip in elderly men is no longer active.

Wikipedia, "Osteoporosis," Wikipedia Ecyclopedia. [ List of good references ]   Wikipedia osteo