Health Alert 307
For years, I’ve been telling patients “Don’t waste your money on all those calcium supplements – they won’t make your bones any stronger… ”
They usually looked at me with disbelief.
Now some new science backs me up. Today, you see that calcium supplements won’t help you build strong bones. You’ll see what you really need to lower your risk of hip fractures and osteoporosis. These secrets will help you retain your mobility far into old age.
During their lives, women are twice as likely to have a hip fracture as develop breast cancer.(1) Yet, new studies show that calcium does nothing to prevent it.
Doctors in the UK found that calcium and vitamin D did not prevent fractures.(2) Their two-year study showed that neither calcium nor vitamin D lowered the number of fractures in women over age seventy.
These results have surprised most doctors, but make sense to me.
Hormones control the amount of calcium that sticks to your bones. If estrogen levels fall, calcium will fall away from the bone. This is important for you to understand.
Taking calcium supplements will give you a short-term boost in bone density, but that’s it. Over time, your hormones will work against the extra calcium and actually leave your bones more brittle than before.
The US has the highest intake of calcium, yet our rates of osteoporosis are the highest in the world. Countries with lower intakes of calcium have lower rates of hip fracture and osteoporosis.(3)
In spite of what you hear on TV, calcium supplements have little to do with the strength of your bones.
If you want bones that are resistant to breaking, here are three ways to make it happen:
- Exercise: I’ve been saying it for years, and new studies to confirm it. Exercise is the best way to strengthen your bones and prevent injury. Thirty minutes of walking a day will lower your risk of fracture by thirty percent.3 Exercise strengthens bones and builds muscle. This will ensure that you stay mobile and independent. See Health Alert 58 for more on my PACE® program.
- Eat Fruits and Vegetables: A university study showed that vegetables and herbs improve your bone metabolism. Researchers found that rats that missed out on their veggies had much lower bone density.(4) Another showed that fruits and vegetables increase your bone density. The same study found that dairy products did nothing.(5)
- Blood Test: A simple blood test will tell you how your hormone levels affect your bone health. This is the best way to determine the health of your bones and your risk for fracture. Women may need to take natural progesterone. For both men and women testosterone is the most powerful controller of your bone density. To arrange for your own blood test, you can call my office at (561) 784-7852.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
(1) Canadian Medical Journal. November 12, 2002. p.167.
(2) Grant AM, et al. Calcium/vitamin D not effective for secondary prevention of fracture. Lancet 2005; 365:1621-1628.
(3) Willett W. Calcium: too much of a good thing? Report from the Harvard School of Public Health Nutrition Roundtable.
(4) Effect of vegetables on bone metabolism. Nature. September 23, 1999; 401(6751):343-4
(5) Dietary influences on bone mass and bone metabolism: further evidence of a positive link between fruit and vegetable consumption and bone health? American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 71, No. 1, 142-151, January 2000.