What is causing it?
Osteoporosis is an inflammatory disease and not merely a lack of calcium in the diet. Inflammation can be caused by a number of different factors, and it increases harmful prostaglandins and pushes the PH in each cell toward more acidic. In response, the body robs minerals from the bones to bring the pH of each cell back towards alkaline.
What are the common causes and risk factors?
- Vitamin D deficiency (optimal blood levels are 50-90)
- Causes calcium to be less absorbed into the bloodstream
- Magnesium and calcium deficiency
- Causes bone density deterioration
- Tobacco and excess alcohol
- Robs minerals from the bone
- Malnutrition / Malabsorption
- Causes you to not get enough natural calcium and magnesium
- High protein diet
- Pushes the cell pH toward acidity and robs minerals from bones
- Inactivity
- Similar to atrophy of the muscles, there is demineralization of the bones. If you don’t use them, you lose them
- Soft drinks and refined sugar
- Strongly push pH toward acidity; one of the worst culprits
- Any Chronic disease
- Weakens the body’s immune system and puts it in a survival state
- Inflammatory and Autoimmune disease (Like Lupus, RA, Chron’s/Colitis, etc)
- Pushes the cell pH toward acidity and robs minerals from bones
- Endocrine imbalance (thyroid / sex hormones)
- Disrupts the body’s ability to regulate itself, including managing calcium
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Disrupts the body’s absorption of minerals
- Prescription drugs (steroids – Anti acids /proton inhibitors and more)
- Push body pH, changes the body’s natural cycles, affect the absorption of calcium
Who is at risk?
Women are at higher risk of osteoporosis, and consequently hip and spinal compression fractures, due to three factors :
1. Women have smaller bones to start with
2. They tend to be less physically active
3. Menopause reduces estrogen which plays a role in bone remodeling
Hip fractures and prolonged hospital stays increase the patient’s risk of contracting pneumonia and other infections. Genetic predisposition to osteoporosis is seen in some races but could partially be due to some cultural behavior that discourages physical activity after a certain age. Having a small skeletal frame is also a factor.
How can I know if I have it?
A DXA scan is an imaging tool that can give you a definite diagnosis.
There are also blood and urine tests available that can predict your risks:
- Urine Desoxypiridinoline
- Blood calcium level (should be <9.4)
- Vitamin D 25 Hydroxy ( 50 to 90 )
Once a person has confirmed that their bone density is low, they need to determine the cause(s) of their condition. A complete evaluation, and tests if needed, can determine the specific cause(s) to be treated.
At what age should I start getting tested and how often?
Inactive men and women should get a baseline DXA Scan starting at 45. If the score comes back normal, get a scan every 5 years.
Active women should get a baseline DXA Scan at the onset of menopause and active men at 55. If the score comes back normal, get a scan every 5 years.
How do you treat it?
Remedies are based on a person’s individual causes, however there are several extremely common causes and remedies.
- Anti Inflammatory Mediterranean diet
- Replaces the pH culprits with the nutrients the body needs to function properly. It will likely reduce any other chronic, inflammatory, or autoimmune conditions. The diet also increases the supply of the correct natural calcium and vitamin D.
- Identification and Treatment of Existing Chronic Conditions
- Restores the body’s immune system, natural cycles, and absorption of nutrients
- Magnesium glycinate
- Helps rebuild bone
- Vitamin D3
- Regulates bone mineralization
- Exercise (Cardio and weights)
- Activates more bone building
- Evaluating current prescription regimen
- This can determine which other conditions can be treated naturally, therefore reducing the amount of artificially derived chemicals contributing to the system disruption.
Why don’t you include dairy in your diet? Where am I going to get the calcium I need?
Actually no, the calcium in dairy is the wrong type of calcium. Dairy actually negatively affects the absorption of calcium and pushes the pH of the cells toward acidity! Dairy also causes several other negative affects, like the overproduction of mucus in the lungs which is one of the leading cause of asthma and bronchitis. It also contributes to several inflammatory diseases and malabsorption.
If you consider the cow and how much calcium it produces in its milk, cows must have a great supply of calcium in the food they eat in order to not develop osteoporosis themselves. Where do they get it? Greens. That is where you will find the calcium your body needs too.
Why don’t you recommend prescriptions such as Boniva or Fosamax (also known as Biphosphonate)?
Your liver can become inflamed (indicated by elevated liver enzymes) and the quality of the bone remodeling is poor. The brittle bone actually puts a person more at risk for breaks and more serious conditions. The other problem is that by just refocusing on bone regrowth, prescriptions do not treat the underlying causes of depletion.
Have you seen improvement in the conditions of your patients?
Yes. Our patients regularly improve 2 points on their DXA scan in 8 months without prescriptions harmful to their liver. You can read the success story of one patient who was able to completely reverse his bone loss on our Success Stories page here. If you would like a complete evaluation, you can make an appointment with Dr. Wellhausen.