By Dr. Michael Colgan
Strong Bones: Part 3
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed why North America is in crisis with increased rates of osteoporosis, and why pharmaceutical drugs have failed miserably to save our bones.
In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed why North America is in crisis with increased rates of osteoporosis, and why pharmaceutical drugs have failed miserably to save our bones. We also reviewed five of the 11 factors essential to build and maintain bones. In this article, we continue discussing the nutrients that will give you strong bones for life.
6. Strontium: The 15th most common element, strontium is widely distributed on Earth. During our evolution, strontium was incorporated into the design of human bones along with calcium, which it is close to in structure. Because of the uneven distribution of different forms of strontium in soils, and therefore in diets, measurement of strontium in prehistoric bones is widely used today in paleontology to determine migration patterns of human groups.
Strontium adds strength to bone. It is needed in small amounts and makes up 0.2 percent of bone, where it is used in place of and in combination with calcium. During the early 20th century it was being researched as a possible essential mineral. That research stopped in 1945.
Strontium fell into disrepute with the advent of nuclear bombs. Nuclear fallout contains a large amount of an unstable, radioactive isotope of strontium called strontium-90, which does not occur in nature. Nevertheless, strontium-90 is readily incorporated into human bone and causes numerous diseases, including bone cancer. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, for example, contaminated thousands of square miles and tens of thousands of people with strontium-90. When the word “strontium” began to conjure terror, natural strontium, which is not radioactive, lost consideration as a human nutrient for many decades.
We know now that strontium is an essential part of bone. Dozens of studies during the past 10 years, including the large PREVOS trial, show that strontium supplementation reduces the risk of fracture in women with osteoporosis. Better yet, strontium supplementation prevents post-menopausal bone loss. It achieves these miraculous effects, not by stockpiling old, weak bone as most osteoporosis drugs do, but by inducing the growth of new bone.
No one knows how much strontium we need; there is no dietary reference intake (DRI). It is not even included by the US Table of Essential Minerals. Official lists of human nutrients always lag at least 20 years behind the research because their compilation is driven more by politics than evidence. From the hundreds of studies over the last two decades, the Colgan Institute recommends 250 to 500 milligrams per day for all people at risk of losing bone, which includes women over 30 who’ve had three or more children, all women over 40 and all men over 50.
7. Vitamin D: The chemical calciferol is still called vitamin D, one of the errors of 20th century nutrition science. The biochemical definition of a vitamin declares that it has to be a chemical that is not an element, which the body cannot make, and which is essential for health. We know now that the human body can make vitamin D easily in our skin when it is exposed to the ultra-violet part of sunlight.
Calciferol (vitamin D) is an essential nutrient for calcium, phosphorus and magnesium absorption and metabolism, and for muscle contraction, energy production and immunity. We don’t need much, ascalciferol makes up less than 0.1 percent of the body’s weight. The current DRI for calciferol is only 5 micrograms (mcg) – 5 millionths of a gram. Five micrograms equals 200 IU, if measured in international units. The old RDA used to be 10 micrograms or 400 IU. Then the DRI got cut in half because those making decisions learned at medical school that too much vitamin D can be toxic. What they didn’t learn, or forgot, is that the research they used to justify their decision had been discarded as useless decades ago. The current DRI for vitamin D was set from studies of the relationship between calciferol intake and the active form of vitamin D in spot measurements of blood serum.
There are many reasons why this measurement is incorrect. Blood is a transport mechanism. Amounts of vitamin D (and many other chemicals) therein bear little relation to the amounts being used in bones or tissues, or the amounts necessary for health. We don’t even know the “normal” levels of vitamin D in living bone, let alone the optimal level. It’s as inaccurate as taking random snapshots of cars on the freeway to calculate how many cars can operate in the city. There is overwhelming evidence that the DRI for vitamin D (5 micrograms) is woefully insufficient to maintain bones.
Even the old RDA of 10 micrograms is insufficient. In studies, 10 micrograms failed to maintain vitamin D status, even in young, healthy Canadian women. Nor does it reduce fracture rates in osteoporosis. From studies since 1992, we have known that both men and women need a vitamin D supplement of at least 20 micrograms (800 IU) to increase bone mineral density and reduce fracture risk.
Being fat-soluble, vitamin D is easily stored in the body and can build up to a toxic level. But the lowest observed adverse effects level (LOAEL) is 50 micrograms or 2,000 IU, 10 times the DRI. And the one person who reportedly had this adverse effect didn’t actually become ill. In controlled trials, subjects have taken 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) of vitamin D for months without any toxicity. The Colgan Institute recommends 20 to 30 micrograms (800 to 1,200 IU) of supplemental cholecalciferol (the most effective form of vitamin D3) daily, depending on gender, age, exercise levels and health history. Take 20 minutes a day in the sunshine. You don’t have to go naked; sleeveless is sufficient. It’s a free and effective strategy for making vitamin D.
8. Vitamin K: Vitamin K is another essential player in the synergy of bone. It exists in the body in minute amounts and is required daily in the microgram range. Unlike vitamin D, which is available to the public in Western nations, health authorities in Canada do not know that strong bone is impossible without sufficient vitamin K. Consequently they do not permit over-the-counter (without prescription) access to vitamin K supplements. Numerous scientists consider this restriction irresponsible. As a consultant to several health authorities, I have tried to convince them, but the excuse is always public safety. When courageous souls eventually listened in the US and allowed over-the-counter vitamin K, there was some political breath-holding, but there has not been a single case of vitamin K poisoning since.
Understanding the necessity of vitamin K requires re-education for any physician over 40, because they were taught that vitamin K is the blood clotter – and we seem to have too much blood clotting. Fortunately, excess vitamin K is not responsible. This medical misconception of vitamin K function occurred when it was discovered by Henrik Dam in Denmark in 1920, and its function was recorded as “coagulation.” The name stuck and human requirements for vitamin K were calculated based on the amounts required to clot blood. We have known for 50 years that blood clotting is not controlled by the amount of vitamin K you ingest. The full story of vitamin K was published in 1988 by Paul Price, University of California (La Jolla). It is clear that blood coagulation is only one of its functions – probably a minor one. The major role of vitamin K is to make bone matrix proteins and their conversion into a form which binds calcium into crystals to create bone structure. No vitamin K – no bone.
The daily amount of vitamin K used for bone is much greater than required for blood clotting. It is based on testing the amount of vitamin K required to make and convert the vitamin K-dependent proteins in bone into their final form.
From the first controlled double-blind studies with this test in the mid-1990s, US health authorities made major advances. They discovered for example, that women with osteoporosis are all vitamin K deficient, and that this deficiency increases their risk of fracture by 600 percent! The US Institute of Medicine, which sets the DRIs, promptly more than doubled the daily requirement for vitamin K to 90 micrograms for women and to 120 micrograms for men.
There are two main forms of vitamin K: phylloquinones (vitamin K1) found in green, leafy vegetables, and menaquinones (vitamin K2) found in meats and in fermented soy products such as natto. Vitamin K2 has proved more effective as a supplement for bone, although your body does have the ability to convert KI into K2. The Colgan Institute recommends 100 to 300 micrograms of supplemental vitamin K1, plus 240 to 480 micrograms of vitamin K2, depending on age, gender, exercise level and health history.
One large body of evidence supporting vitamin K supplementation comes from many recent Japanese studies (2006 Japanese Population-Based Osteoporosis Study) using the menaquinone found in natto, or measuring the bone strength of people who use natto regularly in their diet. There is no doubt that vitamin K saves bone, with only positive side effects on health. Even massive doses in studies were non-toxic (Sarah Cockayne and David Torgerson, at the University of York, England, used supplements of 15 to 45 milligrams of vitamin K2). None of these studies showed excess blood clotting or undesirable side-effects. But they did show that vitamin K supplementation reduced hip fractures by 77 percent, vertebral fractures by 60 percent and all other fractures by 81 percent. If there was a non-toxic cancer drug that was one-tenth as effective, health authorities would be all over it. In fact, osteopenia and osteoporosis are far more prevalent than cancer, cause far more suffering and cost more tax money to treat.
Despite the facts, bone diseases are swept under the political rug, especially in Canada, largely because they are considered to be problems of old people. Wrong! You get your maximum bone strength between age 25 and 35. Unless you do something about it, it’s all downhill from there.
References available from VISTA.
Excerpted from Dr Colgan’s new book, Strong Bones.
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Dr. Michael Colgan
Dr. Michael Colgan, president of the Colgan Institute in San Diego and best-selling author on sports nutrition, also lectures and writes extensively on aging and is a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine.
