Supplements Specific for Osteoporosis Part 12

When it comes to nutrition for healthy bones of course the most important source of bone healthy nutrients should come from the food we eat. The calcium and other minerals in fresh vegetables contain lots of cofactors that help in the assimilation of these minerals into the bone. And the form of minerals in food is easier to absorb than the form in most supplements.

However, supplements for bone health can be very important too.

Of course we all think of calcium supplementation for osteoporosis but even doctors get stuck there and don’t take into consideration all of the other minerals, vitamins and co-factors needed to grow healthy bones.

So let’s take a look at calcium’s companions.

What did you think of next?

Probably vitamin D, a very important vitamin that’s had a lot of recognition recently even by main stream medicine. And for good reason because with low levels of vitamin D calcium does not even get absorbed from the small intestine. It needs vitamin D to help ferry it across the intestinal cell membrane so it can reach the blood stream.

In the bone matrix vitamin D orchestrates the placement of minerals into the bone and helps regulate bone growth.

Ahh, vitamin D, such an important nutrient in osteoporosis and it’s free. Just spend 20-30 minutes with a lot of your skin exposed to the sun and the sun will turn the cholesterol in your skin into vitamin D. Have you ever noticed that your fingernails grow stronger and faster when you’re able to spend more time in the sun? But of course don’t over expose your skin to the sun’s effects.

There’s so much information to relay about vitamin D.  You can refresh your knowledge at these pages:

https://www.drjomd.com/2012/02/vitamin-d-part1/

https://www.drjomd.com/2012/02/vitamin-d-part-2-health-benefits/

https://www.drjomd.com/2012/02/vitamin-d-part-3-supplements/

Other minerals companions to calcium

Besides escorting calcium across the intestinal cell membrane, vitamin D also helps magnesium and phosphate across that membrane. These two minerals help form bone structure too, so eating plenty of them keeps bones strong. Unfortunately most Americans have low magnesium levels inside their cells (where you cannot measure magnesium by a blood test) because we don’t eat enough magnesium rich foods.

The best way to ingest these important bone building minerals is by eating your veggies, just like your mom (or grandma) always said. Green vegetables are especially rich in calcium and magnesium.

Grab your copy of Dr. Jo’s Natural Healing Cookbook for lots of creative ways to prepare your colorful and nutrient dense veggies.

Then a few trace minerals seem to be special to bone health. Boron stimulates bone formation and inhibits bone break down (resorption) probably by facilitating the handling of other minerals like magnesium and phosphorus.

Silicon too helps with the growth and maintenance of bone. Although unproven so far scientists think that silicon strengthens bone by helping produce and stabilize collagen which gives flexibility to the bone matrix. Flexible bones may “bounce” rather than break under traumatic conditions.

Zinc also stimulates bone formation and decreases bone break down in the daily normal remodeling process that goes on in living bones. Folks with zinc deficiency commonly have bone growth retardation.

Copper and zinc work together in the body and so copper deficiency may contribute to osteoporosis also.

That’s just a brief summary of the nutrients that bones thrive on. I have kept the descriptions short but in part 2 of Supplements for Osteoporosis you will find references to other online articles so you can dig deeper into this topic. These references will give you lists of foods that contain the various nutrients that we have discussed in Part 1.

And wait! There’s one more very important vitamin for proper bone metabolism.  Your calcium won’t get into your bones without it. The next article is devoted to it.