Jerry Lee Hoover
Osteoporosis? 'What is it? Our bones are made up of a number of elements. The two most prevalent minerals in bones are calcium and phosphorus, which make up our bones. When calcium is lost from the bones over a period of time, the bones become porous and brittle and can easily break.
Thus: osteoporosis is a loss of weight and density in the bone cells... and the development of a spongy rather than a solid texture of the bones. The disease actually consists of an enlargement of the spaces in bones so that its appearance becomes porous. What looked before like a rock now appears as a sponge.
Approximately 20 million people in the United States are affected by osteoporosis. Many of these people are taking calcium supplements and excess calcium in the body has adverse side effects. It has been shown that this calcium in the body is picked up by the blood and deposited in the soft tissues, the blood vessels, skin, eyes, joints, and internal organs. Calcium combines with fats and cholesterol in the blood vessels to cause hardening of the arteries. The calcium that ends up in the skin causes wrinkling. In the joints it crystallizes and forms very painful arthritic deposits. In the eyes, it takes the form of cataracts. And in the kidneys, it forms hard deposits knows as kidney stones. Thus, taking extra calcium does much harm to the body. The major cause of osteoporosis is the eating of too much protein, especially meat and animal products.
Americans are eating too much protein. Right now, the World Health Organization suggests a minimum daily protein requirement of about 40 grams a day. The RDA recommendation is about 55 grams a day. But the average American is getting over 100 grams a day. What happens to all this excess protein? First, it is broken down into amino acids, some of which are metabolized in the liver and excreted through the kidneys as urea. With the urea and amino acids excreted into the urine go large amounts of minerals. One of the minerals lost is calcium and studies show that the more protein you use, the more calcium you lose. The many studies performed during the past fifty-five years consistently show that the most important dietary change that we can make if we want to create a positive calcium balance that will keep our bones solid is to decrease the amount of protein we eat each day.
Some other causes of osteoporosis are smoking, drinking alcohol, coffee, soft drinks, eating too much salt, taking antacid, insufficient exercise and lack of sunshine. Smoking is an exceedingly acid-producing habit and one of the major roles calcium plays in the body is to maintain a proper acid-alkaline balance. When one smokes, the calcium is actually drained from the bones and teeth to meet this need. Alcohol impairs calcium absorption by affecting the liver's ability to activate vitamin D, which is important in the metabolism of calcium.
Caffeine, which is found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, hot chocolate, and many over-the-counter drugs, causes more calcium to be excreted from the body than is normal. (1) The more salt (sodium) you take in, the more calcium you excrete. Some antacids contain aluminum, which causes an increase in calcium excretion. It has been clearly shown that exercise increases bone mass, while lack of exercise causes bone loss. Since vitamin D plays an important role in bone metabolism and the best source of vitamin D is sunshine, it stands to reason that a lack of sunshine can lead to osteoporosis.
When the problem of osteoporosis is studied worldwide, one is struck by the fact that the highest incidence of osteoporosis is in countries where dairy products and calcium supplements are consumed in the greatest quantities. The incidence of osteoporosis is lowest in the countries where the least amount of dairy products is consumed, such as the African countries. A number of studies have been done among the Bantu women of Africa. They consume less than half the protein of Americans and have a life-style demanding large amounts of calcium (nursing up to ten children in a lifetime), yet osteoporosis is almost unknown among them.
CONCLUSION: Let us cut down on the amount of protein we eat each day and eat foods high in natural calcium. Let us remember that for good health we must eat our food in as natural a state as possible without taking man-made supplements.
(Jerry Lee Hoover is a Naturopath who lives full time in Costa Rica.)
© El Residente ARCR Administración S.A. San José, Costa Rica N.B. Like all information on the internet, this article may currently be incorrect or out of date.
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