I am always looking for balances in what I tell people to take nutriceutically. I have been backing off on telling people to take calcium indefinitely for many years now. I see that basic physiology makes me see that you bodies main source of calcium is from the homeostatic balance in the bones. Basic physiology tells us a lot of things. But I will digress; The milk and dairy propaganda shows us that calcium is really only derived from this source and if people don't eat dairy your bones are going to dissolve. I remember the vegan cowboy (Howard Lyman) talk to us when I was in medical school saying the studies are hidden on showing the bone health in college age women who drink milk for 4 years straight. The dairy industry wanted to hide this result because the women actually lost bone mass. These are healthy teens to 20s women who show that they have bone loss with using more dairy products. The more dairy the more loss. Hmm, I have yet to see the paper, but will post it someday if it surfaces again.
If we continue to eat in a way to produce more of an acid environment in our bodies, then we will have bones dissolve and we will be getting osteoporotic. The dairy proteins and excessive animal protein intake create a more acid environment and therefore dissolve the bones to have calcium and other minerals come into the blood to buffer it over time.
I still tell people to get a supplemented source of Vitamin D. This seco-steroid will influence the bringing in of calcium from the diet and you will not have to supplement as much calcium.
So back to the basic physiology; when cells die in the body there is an influx of calcium and this influx of calcium causes the cells to become sort 'cemented' when they die. This is why we can see in coronary artery disease calcium tied up into the athersclerotic plaques. This is normal physiology. So when we exceed the dietary need of calcium over time there is the chance that this calcium is going to harden our arteries.
Making sure that you get enough calcium and keep your internal environment more of a proper pH you will not have this calcification of your body occur. This is done by eating plenty of vegetables. Most americans do not get enough of these.
If you just look at the food pyramid put out by the USDA/FDA then you will see that the foods at the top of the pyramid create the most acid and the bottom ones create the least or make more of an alkaline environment.
As for the Vit D story more to come. But John McDougall MD is not only one concerned about external source of Vitamin D. Yes this seems un-natural, but it also seems un-natural that we are inside for most of our days. I have seen for almost a decade people coming into my practice and the test for 25-OH Vitamin D coming back well below the standard ok level of 32 ng/dL. I don't take this lightly when I see the amazing need for this seco-steroid in the body. So not supplementing it for now would be in my opinion malpractice as a doctor to not tell my patients. What is the optimal level for long term health? We will have to see over time. I have never seen my patients Calcium level in their blood above normal because of high Vitamin D levels. I have pushed some people pretty fast too. So for now supplement with Vitamin D and get outside as well.
Calcium will get pulled up into the body from the intestines if you eat green leafies and have enough vitamin D.
Last point, I may have brought up in previous articles. Most of the world doesn't rely on dairy as their main source of calcium and many countries that don't have dairy as calcium source actually have less osteoporosis. Something to ponder: read T. Colin Campbell's info on this.
Be well,
Dr. Kozura
