The calcium Lie - why calcium can destroy your health, including your bones

Please take a few minutes to watch this video by Dr Robert Thompson then read some of the many articles I have written over the years about issues to do with calcium and diseases like osteoporosis.  

Here is the link to some of them:
http://blog.garymoller.com/search/label/osteoporosis%20nutrition

For about 80% of the people who consult me about chronic health problems, reducing dietary intake of calcium will improve their health!

Dr Thompson refers to mineral analysis HTMA).  I like him because he uses the very same laboratory as me for mineral analysis and has come to the conclusion I have about calcium and health.  It was this test that opened his eyes and what motivated him to write the book.  This is the test he refers to:
http://www.garymoller.com/Products/Products/H/Hair-Tissue-Mineral-Analysis-Profile-Two.aspx

I have a limited number of his book "The Calcium Lie" here for $30 (contact me directly if you want a copy).  I have these available for my clients because it helps explain the value of the HTMA for guiding the journey back to good health.

 About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Calcium, Vitamin D supplements for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis

"Health claims for calcium and a reduced risk of osteoporosis will now be allowed a broader scope with fewer restrictions. FDA recently announced in a Federal Register notice that it is amending its labeling regulation on the calcium and osteoporosis health claim to include vitamin D so that, in addition to the claim for calcium and osteoporosis, a claim can be made for the relationship between calcium and vitamin D and a reduced risk of osteoporosis. The agency also eliminated several caveats formerly required to appear with the claim, including the requirement of a statement that a total dietary intake greater than 200 percent of the recommended daily intake (2,000 mg of calcium) has no further benefit to bone health.

Furthermore, the updated labeling regulation will make optional the reference to the need for physical activity. This final rule is effective Jan. 1, 2010"

Source: Douglas S. Kalman PhD, RD, CCRC, FACN
Director, Nutrition & Applied Clinical Research
Miami Research Associates
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Gary comments:

While it is great to see the FDA recognising the health benefits of nutrients like calcium and vitamin D, I still think they are a wee bit off track.  For a start, I wonder if there are true health benefits from taking massive clumps of synthetic vitamin D and potentised calcium like calcium

 gluconate?

Sure, these chemicals might pump calcium galore into the bones; but this is not the form of calcium naturally found in the body and does it drive calcium into tissues like artery walls?  I think it is safer to dribble in small amounts of calcium in the form found in the body and to give all of the fat soluble vitamins, proteins and fatty acids that the body uses for constructing healthy tissue, including bones.

It was interesting cycling around Samoa a week ago and to note that there were few signs of osteoporosis and arthritis among the propulation outside of the only real town - Apia.  The diet of the typical Samoan in the countryside is not particularly high in calcium and defintely not 2,000mg per day.  Healthy Samoans have impressive bones that do not fracture easily.  For example; easily the highest bone percent yet measured on the Salter 9106 scales is my Samoan Brother In Law.

Here's my Osteoporosis prevention advice as influenced by the Samoan lifestyle:

• Exercise outdoors daily, including walking and gardening.  How about a brisk walk and then find a Tai Chi class that is taken outdoors?
• Get out in the sun daily, exposing the legs and torso (no sunburn)
• On days of no sun - take 2,000iu natural vitamin D supplement but not more
• Get Vitamin K from natural sources, including taro leaves cooked in coconut oil
• Get other fat soluble vitamins from cod liver oil, fish head soup, shell fish, wheat germ oil
• Get essential fatty acids from flax oil, olive oil, evening primrose oil, fish oil, coconut oil, free range eggs, New Zealand butter and raw organic full-fat milk (Fat soluble vitamins and other natural anti-oxidants in the diet prevent these fats from oxidising and harming the body)
• Get loads of minerals from beef and chicken broths, all kinds of green leafy vegetables, whole grains and nuts
• Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables daily - never the same one in a row.  Get adventurous with your fruit and veges!
• Go to a remote Pacific island yearly during mid-winter, chill out, eat only the local foods and explore the reefs by snorkel and goggles.

An 87 year old man seeks advice for problems with walking

Image via Wikipedia

I have been prescribed calcium tablets by my Doctor and will continue to take them. At my age (87) I guess it will not make much difference.

However there is another matter on which I would like your recommendation. I am in reasonable health for my age but progressively I am having difficulty in walking any distance. The main difficulty is that my leg muscles get very tired - the calf and upper leg muscles. If I stop walking for one minute the muscles recover to enable me to walk a further 2/300m.

Can you recommend a product which will help rejuvenate my leg muscles? All I want to do is to take a walk for 20 minutes or so which I have been able to do until about two months ago.

Medications

Glipizide 5mg
Lipitor 20mg
Enalapril 5mg
Atenalol 50mg
Allopurinol 100mg
Frusemide 40mg
Plendil 2.5mg
Cardia 100mg
Osteo-500 1.25g
Terazosin 2mg
Insulin 30/70

I have had Type II diabetes for 20 years. Have had a triple heart bypass 8 years ago. Due to partial kidney failure I am not able to take anti-inflammatory medication.

Study finds link between calcium supplements and increased heart attack risk

Image via Wikipedia

"While experts are not certain about the biological mechanism by which calcium supplements may damage the body, studies in the past have linked high levels of blood calcium to more heart attacks and damage to blood vessels", Reid said.

_____________________________________

Gary:

The findings of this study are not new news really and stopping taking calcium supplements, while being a beneficial action for most, will do little to improve the overall situation of population risk of heart attack, stroke, dementia and so on.  There is just far too much calcium in the modern diet.

Calcium from any source, when in excess, will damage health

High calcium, low magnesium = Calcification of soft
tissues, including arteries.  Plus osteoporosis.

When calcium is in excess relative to other nutrients in the body, such as magnesium, sodium, copper, protein and pyridoxine, then it will not go into the bones, but be deposited into the soft tissues including the arteries. Whether the imbalance is due to excess calcium intake, deficiency in others or increased need, the end result is the same: Hardening of the soft tissues.

Excess calcium will cause osteoporosis, not prevent it. When a nutrient is in excess the body is unable to incorporate the nutrient and may, in fact go into excretory mode

So why do our tendons turn into bone? Calcific Tendonitis

"First off, Tendons DO NOT turn to bone.

They can become tough, brittle, hard, like a dry crunchy sponge instead of a soft squishy sponge. They can become HARD, but they don't turn to bone."

Read more: http://www.tendonitisexpert.com/calcific-tendonitis.html#ixzz0RFTM0tFq

Calcification of tissues, including tendons, is a problem that I encounter almost daily. When palpating the tendons and muscles, you can feel the hardening of the texture. Healthy muscles and tendons are flexible and pliable.

The Tendonitis Expert is onto the solution - limiting calcium intake, increasing magnesium, reducing inflammation and deep tissue massage.

How much calcium and how much magnesium is enough?

This is not a straight forward answer because it may be as much to do with imbalance as to do with excess. Some of us need more calcium, others less and some of us need more magnesium and some less. Blood tests are not accurate because they only tell us what is happening in the blood that day; whereas we want to know what is going on inside the cells day-to-day. A hair tissue mineral analysis, performed in a licenced laboratory using modern mass spectometry gives us an accurate insight of the inner workings of your cells.

If you want to get this done for yourself, contact me and I will send you details of how to go about getting a hair tissue mineral analysis, plus a hair collection envelope and clinic form. Or you can go here and order an Interclinical Laboratories Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis.

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Email Gary: gary at myotec.co.nz (Replace the "at" with @ and remove spaces). Please include any relevant background information to your question.

Is there a link between calcium and diseases like osteoporosis, dementia and gall stones?

When it comes to nutrition, perhaps the biggest blunder we have made, as a society, is to allow commercial interests, principally the pharmaceutical and food industries, to tell us what is best for us.

When exploring 3rd World countries, like Samoa and Vanuatu, what really strikes me is the wonderful bone structures of the natives and almost complete freedom from arthritis despite the near complete absence of dairy. In fact, their diets appear to be lacking calcium! How can it be that these people have such strong bones?

How can it also be that New Zealand, which is awash with milk, has a so-called "osteoporosis epidemic"?

The dairy industry has milkwashed New Zealanders and just about everyone else on the planet, that we need more and more calcium in our diets, via milk, for strong bones. Big Pharma has jumped in on the act, developing the Dexa Scan to terrorise women into taking bone destroying bisphosphenate drugs, sacrificing their health in the process.

For the last ten years I have been testing the mineral status of people and the results are consistently telling me that most New Zealanders are too overloaded with calcium relative to other minerals that are found in our cells.

Please refer to the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis charts to the left.

What these consistently show is calcium is too high relative to magnesium, potassium and most other minerals for at least half of the people tested - men and women.

Too much calcium relative to other minerals drives the development of osteoporosis and the deposition of calcium into the soft tissues of the body, including the blood vessels.

The deposition of calcium into the soft tissues is the leading cause of arteriosclerosis which leads to high blood pressure, dementia and other ailments, including gall stones, bone spurs and kidney stones.


In addition to osteoporosis, New Zealand has a serious problem with diseases of dementia - and gall bladders are being whipped out here, there and everywhere because of gall stones.

Is this hardly surprising these are on the increase, given the over supply of calcium and not much of anything else? Is it hardly a surprise, as well, that there is not a lot more publicity about this troubling coincidence?

Magnesium may be more important than calcium for preventing otseoporosis

I have always wondered why it is that a country like NZ with its massive consumption of calcium coantining dairy products has such high rates of osteoporosis. We might now know why. The answer might be that we have been barking up the wrong tree. The problem is not with calcium intake but deficiency in the other things that allow the body to make good use of calcium. This might explain the low rates of osteoporosis in populations that have relatively low calcium intakes but little apparent osteoporosis.

According to a recent study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the best way to increase bone mineral density in the bones of adolescent girls is to increase their dietary intake of magnesium through foods and supplementation.

I have found, in my consultations with clients that there is widespread magnesium deficiency, causing problems with cramp, blood pressure problems, fatigue and so on.

The researchers recruited healthy adolescent girls whose daily dietary magnesium intakes were lower than 220 milligrams. The girls were randomly assigned to receive either 300 milligrams of magnesium oxide or placebo for one year. Throughout the course of the study, the researchers measured bone mineral content (BMC) changes in certain sites in the girls' bodies. At the end of the year, the girls' bone mineral content, particularly in the hips, was significantly higher than it was at the beginning of the study in the magnesium-supplement group.



Good food sources of magnesium include green leafy vegetables, meats, and nuts but this assumes that they are gown in soils that have not been depeleted of magnesium and other trace minerals. We can safely take up to 800mg of magnesium per day.

Products from www.myotec.co.nz that contain plenty of magnesium include:
Calcium Complete
Phyto Calcium
Sports Multi
Magnesium Complete
Cramp Buster
Chrometate Multi-mineral
Red Seal Magnesium Mineral Drink

A factor that is essential for proper use of minerals like magnesium and calcium is vitamin D. The only way of determining if vitamin D levels are adequate is by a blood test. The optimum for health is from 120-160mmol and so far the nearest to that of those I have had tested has been a leading NZ marathon ruinner who returned a result of 106nm/l/L. Our sun scare policies are working - to our detriment.

How to prevent muscle cramp during an event like the Oxfam trailwalker 100km

"Dear Gary,
I have entered with a team into the Oxfam 100km trailwalker this April. I have suffered really bad muscle cramps in the past when doing long runs. Do you have any advice about diet and supplements during training to prevent this happening again?
Thanks"
Anon.
_________________________________
Gary Moller comments:
I have had several enquiries like this one for advice from walkers and runners who have entered the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km April 14-15, 2007). The challenge of the Trailwalker is to complete 100kms in 36 hours as a team of four and raise funds to help some of the world's poorest people.

Whether you intend to walk or run the Oxfam Trailwalker 100km, it’s a gruelling challenge and the odds are that you and your team mates are going to suffer cramping of some kind. So, let’s concentrate this article on what you can do with diet and training to avoid being hampered by cramp during the event. Train your ability to use fat stores When doing an event like the Oxfam Trailwalker, you have near limitless supplies of body fat for energy; but very limited internal supplies of your other source of energy: glycogen. When your glycogen runs low, as it will no matter how you get from A to B with 100km between, you must rely increasingly upon your fat stores for the energy to keep going. However; this is not easy if you are a typical Kiwi who is never further than several metres from a food source. Not being used to digging deep into your fat stores during intense physical exercise will result in only one thing: dead in the water exhaustion and muscle cramps. You need to train your body to operate efficiently using its fat stores.

This means having your last meal about two hours before exercise and doing your longest training runs/walks of the week on water only. You should be steadily building up to being able to trot comfortably for about three hours once a week, or to walk at a steady clip for about four hours.

It is important to cut the junk carbohydrates out of your daily diet - sugar, white flour, corn syrup and so on and replace these with whole food sources like wholemeal bread, oats, Kumara, taro, yams and spuds. Whole foods sourced carbohydrates are digested more slowly, they contain more nutrients and cause less stress on metabolic regulators like the pancreas.
Consuming sweets, gels and sugary drinks while you are exercising will not allow your body to learn how to burn fat efficiently. My free e-book "Training for a Marathon" has more information about training endurance capacity (download from http://www.healthandlifestyle.co.nz/).

You may initially get intense carbohydrate cravings during your long training sessions. However, if you stick at it you will be delighted with the results: The cravings will diminish and you can maintain a steady clip for much longer. I have found that this takes at least three months to really kick in, so start now. Build your body's mineral stores while you still have time Barely a single modern person's diet is adequate in minerals. Our depleted agricultural soils and limited range of cultivated crops sees to that, as does our general aversion to eating organs like the liver and making mineral rich broths from beef bones. Magnesium and calcium are critical for health, including muscle function. It can take several months, if not a year or so of supplementation to build a depleted body's stores in muscles, bones and organs like the liver. Rich body stores of minerals are your defence against muscle cramps during events like the Oxfam Trailwalker. During the remaining weeks of your preparation I recommend that you take two tablets of Calcium Complete and two capsules of Magnesium Complete per day, spread over the day and with food.

Eat organ meats like liver and kidney and make beef bone soups that have the bones well and truly simmered to release the bone minerals. Eat your leafy vegetables. Take extra B vitamins, extra antioxidants and glutamine and boost vitamin D

Minerals and the B group of vitamins work together to keep muscles, nerves (and brain) working, so you need extra B vitamins on a daily basis when doing all of the training you must do in preparation for walking or trotting 100km. Take two Super B tablets per day with food.

Vitamin D is like a mineral magnet and without high levels in your body, your ability to uptake and use minerals like magnesium and calcium is seriously compromised (This is why sunlight deprivation causes disease like rickets, osteoporosis and muscles weakness). Its importance for health is frequently overlooked possibly because vitamin D is free and does not require a prescription.

You can also take additional antioxidants into your body to keep muscles resistant to damage by taking a daily antioxidant supplement. However, your main source of antioxidants is bright coloured fruit and veggies including berries. Dark berries like blueberries and black currant also provide some protection from sunburn which is important at this time of year. The amino acid Glutamine aids muscle repair and recovery. It is best taken before and after exercise.

Note: You can order the supplements referred to in this article from http://www.myotec.co.nz/ or you can find similar products from your local natural health store.