Preventing and reversing osteoporosis
Bone - thinning osteoporosis can lead to small and not - so - small fractures in the vertebrae. As these breaks progress, the spine can become severely bent forward. Although doctors often turn to calcium supple - ments or hormone treatments to slow bone loss, another approach addresses the real causes much more directly.
Most cases of osteoporosis have nothing to do with inadequate cal - cium intake. They are caused by overly rapid calcium loss, which, in turn, is caused by five factors:
1. Animal protein. The protein in fish, poultry, red meat, and eggs tends to leach calcium from the bones. This calcium passes into the bloodstream, then filters through the kidneys into the urine. Plant protein does not appear to have this effect. As a 1994 report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed, when volunteers switched from a typical American diet to a vegetarian diet, their calcium losses were reduced to less than half what they had been.26 Plant - based diets provide adequate protein without the excesses and help your calcium stay in your bones where it belongs.
2. Sodium. Sodium also tends to encourage calcium to pass through the kidneys. People who reduce their sodium intake to one to two grams per day cut their calcium requirement by an average of 160 mg per day. To do that, avoid salty snack foods and canned goods with added sodium, and keep salt use low on the stove and at the table.27
3. Caffeine’s diuretic effect causes water to be lost via the kidneys, and calcium goes along with it. If you have more than two cups of coffee per day, have decaf.28
4. Tobacco. Smokers lose calcium. A study of identical twins showed that if one twin had been a long - term smoker and the other had not, the smoker had more than a 40 percent higher risk of a fracture.29
5. Inactivity. Active people keep calcium in their bones, while sedentary people tend to lose calcium.
Sugar encourages calcium losses as well, although it has not been as extensively studied as the other five factors. As we will see in post 15, sugar’s effect on calcium is sufficient to increase the risk of calcium oxalate stones in the urinary tract.30
Vitamin D is also important, as it controls how efficiently your body absorbs and retains calcium. A few minutes of sunlight on your skin each day normally produces all the vitamin D you need. If you get little or no sun exposure, you can get vitamin D from any multiple vitamin. The recommended dietary allowance is 200IU (5 meg) per day.
By controlling these basic factors, you can have an enormous influ - ence on whether calcium stays in your bones or drains out of your body.
