Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., D.A.C.B.N., M.S.
Calcium may well be the world’s most popular nutritional supplement.
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Osteoporosis has almost nothing to do with a deficiency of calcium.
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There are several other minerals and trace minerals that are far more important than calcium in reversing osteoporosis.
You need to get a clear mental picture of what osteoporosis is — and what it is not.
Osteoporosis is NOT a deficiency of calcium in the bone. There is a condition in which the bone structure is intact but there is just a deficiency of calcium — this condition is called osteomalacia.
Osteoporosis, on the other hand, is a breakdown in the matrix of the bone. The matrix is the fibrous protein backbone upon which mineralization occurs in osseous tissue.
Have you ever been on a construction site when they were pouring a concrete slab for a floor or a sidewalk? Do you remember seeing the metal rods or mesh onto which they poured the concrete? Well,if we make an analogy between a sidewalk and bone, you can think of the concrete as the minerals of the bone and the reinforcing rods as the bone matrix.
What would happen to that sidewalk if they poured the concrete without reinforcing rods? In no time the concrete would crumble and fall apart.
What happens to an osteoporotic bone? With the deterioration of the fibrous protein matrix the minerals cannot be held. The bone gradually loses mineral density over time.
What happens when you take calcium supplement? Mostly nothing.
If the fibrous tissue of the bone couldn’t hold the calcium it already had, neither can it hold the calcium supplement.
The truth is that osteoporosis does involve calcium but no more than it involves any of the other minerals and trace minerals required for bone formation — including silica, magnesium, manganese, copper, selenium, iodine, and phosphorus.
Each of these minerals is, qualitatively speaking, every bit as important as calcium in bone formation. One very interesting study showed that supplementing with trace minerals with no additional calcium cut the amount of bone loss in half in osteoporosis patients.
Are you beginning to realize that you need a little more than a calcium supplement to help your osteoporosis patients?
Don’t be fooled by the notion that you will develop osteoporosis without taking a truck-load of calcium. Remember, it takes having a healthy balance of all your essential mineral to prevent osteoporosis.
If you want to be confident that you are taking adequate amounts of the essential minerals and more important “absorbing” your minerals, then I encourage you to have an essential mineral blood test Essential Mineral Blood Test.
Having the knowledge that you are obtaining all the essential minerals will go a long way in preventing mineral-induced osteoporosis.
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