Bone Loss: Boron, Magnesium, Calcium, Vitamin D, and Hyperparathyroidism

Boron

Boron is an essential nutrient and part of the government’s RDA. The RDA for boron for adults is 20mg a day. Boron is necessary for bone health because it activates vitamin D. Boron is needed to make use of both calcium and magnesium. Studies show boron reduces the symptoms of arthritis and degenerative bone diseases (osteoporosis and Paget’s disease). Boron also reduces the pain caused by these illnesses. One study found that a significant boron deficiency decreases brain activity similar to lead poisoning.

Bone pain is also known to be caused by a vitamin A deficiency. The body converts beta carotene to the exact amount of vitamin A it needs, so long as the body is not deficient of zinc. Strange bone pain, for example in toes, can be caused by vitamin A deficiency, which can be easily corrected with beta carotene. Diseases that cause bone loss can also cause bone pain.

Magnesium

According to the National Institutes of Health, “Magnesium is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. Magnesium also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is known to be involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. There is an increased interest in the role of magnesium in preventing and managing disorders such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.”

Food in general doesn’t contain much magnesium – to agree all you have to do is use a food values chart to try to create a day of meals you would actually eat that provides the RDA for magnesium (300mg). Magnesium supplements are very helpful in maintaining a healthy diet. Always take magnesium before bed. Start off with half a dose every other day. The higher the quality magnesium supplement the less magnesium needed. Too much magnesium day after day causes deep fatigue, while the right amount of magnesium significantly increases endurance. Magnesium slows time so never take magnesium before work – magnesium will make 8 hours of work feel like 12 hours of work. Be sure to take magnesium after a movie, not before, otherwise the movie will seem like it’s moving very slow. Probably the best forms of magnesium are magnesium citrate and orotate.

Best Forms Of Calcium

Because the body is water based (70% water), minerals have to be soluble (dissolvable) in water in order to be absorbed by the body. Whether a form of a mineral is absorbable (bioavailable) depends on the pH needed for the mineral to dissolve in water.

Many forms of calcium are not bioavailable at pH of 7.0. Calcium carbonate, for example, needs a lower pH to be bioavailable. Calcium carbonate is used in nutritional supplements and as an added ingredient in many foods. Calcium carbonate is also known as scale (found around your faucet aerator), lime, limestone, marble, chalk, portland cement, and dolomite. Calcium phosphate is also not readily bioavailable and found in many supplements as a filler or binder labeled as “dicalcium phosphate”. Calcium citrate is a readily bioavailable form of calcium and probably the best form of calcium.

Forms of calcium that are not bioavailable will become bioavailable if pH of chyme drops far enough. During a meal, water is drawn to the meal to make a thick solution called chyme. Stomach acids with a pH of 1.5 are released and mixed with the chyme in order to break food down into component parts. The chyme can have a low enough pH to make calcium carbonate and other low quality forms of calcium supplements absorbable. High quality calcium supplements, like calcium citrate, don’t need such a low pH to be absorbed and therefore don’t have to be taken with a meal.

According to the National Institute of Arthritis “You can find out how well [your calcium supplement] dissolves by placing it in a small amount of warm water for 30 minutes and stirring it occasionally. If it hasn’t dissolved within this time, it probably will not dissolve in your stomach. Chewable and liquid calcium supplements dissolve well because they are broken down before they enter the stomach.” It may be best to type “liquid calcium” into your favorite shopping search engine to find a good calcium supplement.

Calcium supplements and supplements of several other minerals are alkaline-forming and can raise pH too high (alkalosis) for some, some calcium supplements even come with pH test strips (coral calcium). Symptoms of high pH are light headedness, confusion, and for some unexplained energy. Unfortunately high pH is brought back down by alcohol. If one is not aware of having high pH, it can lead to unknowingly drinking for relief from high pH and the relief ends as soon as the next alkaline-forming supplement is taken. The only way to get control of this situation is to use pH test strips to figure out which supplement(s) is raising pH too high. Saliva pH (as an indication of body pH) really needs to be around 7.0 to 7.4 at most. (pH chart)

Exercise

The pounding of bones when walking or running somehow informs the body to start making bones more dense. Increase in bone density can be measured in just a few weeks of any sort of increased foot work activity.

Vitamin D

Of course, the body cannot make use of calcium if there’s a deficiency of vitamin D. There are two forms of vitamin D. Vitamin D2 is the form of vitamin D in plant food. Vitamin D3 is found in meat and dairy. The body uses D3 more readily than D2. Vitamin D3 goes through several changes until it becomes calcitriol. Supplements of vitamin D3 (and D2) can be found in health food stores. Calcitriol is available by prescription only. The blood test for intake of vitamin D is the 25-hydroxylvitamin D test and results should be around 50 ng/mL (or 125 if measured in nM/L).

The form of vitamin D added to milk (to prevent rickets in children) is D3. Butter contains some vitamin D3. Margarine doesn’t contain any D3 at all. The increase in colon cancer over the last three decades may be due to the loss of vitamin D due to increase use of margarine over butter. Bone pain can be caused by a vitamin D deficiency.

Phosphorus

Too much phosphorus lowers pH and is plentiful in meat and dairy. Grains (including whole grains) and legumes (especially soybeans), and other plant foods are high in phosphorus in the form of phytic acid (also known as inositol hexaphosphate, IP6). Phytic acid cannot be digested by the human body so the main source of phosphorus is meat and dairy. But phytic acid in the body combines with calcium, magnesium, manganese, iron, and zinc preventing absorption of these minerals. Soaking grains and legumes in 140 degree water and then cooking reduces phytic acid by about 50% without adversely affecting taste. But a supplement of calcium citrate, especially a multi mineral supplement of citrate forms of minerals will out maneuver the phytic acid problem.

Copper

A little copper is needed for bone strength. Most people get enough copper just from drinking water passing through copper plumbing. If you’ve ever looked inside a copper pipe (for incoming water) that’s been in use for a number of years, you’ll see green “stuff” built up inside. The greenness is copper and water picks some of it up as it passes by. In fact, CPVC (tan, plastic) piping for cold water is not as healthy as copper piping, unless of course blood level of copper is too high. Supplements of copper are not a good idea unless in a multivitamin supplement. Don’t take a separate supplement of copper and certainly don’t take double doses or mega doses of copper supplements. Too much copper can cause emotional symptoms. For some reason, many schizophrenics have high copper and low zinc levels.

Ipriflavone

Ipriflavone is a plant extract and has been used in Japan and other countries for many years to stop bone loss and for some possibly rebuild bone. It doesn’t work for everyone. Ipriflavone is a synthetic phytoestrogen.

Hyperparathyroidism and Bone Loss

The parathyroid glands are not thyroid glands. There are 4 parathyroid glands and are located near the thyroid glands. The parathyroid glands keep blood calcium normal during low calcium intake by secreting parathyroid hormone (PTH), which cause the release of calcium from bone. When one or more of these glands releases too much PTH (called hyperparathyroidism) more calcium is released from bone than necessary. Fortunately when one or more parathyroid glands releases too much PTH, the healthy parathyroid glands become dormant.

Serum calcium (blood calcium) level is used to pre test for hyperparathyroid hormone. If serum calcium is above 10.2 and below 13mg/dL (a $17 test) then the test for PTH hormone is usually ordered. If PTH is above 65pg/dL, usually the disease hyperparathyroidism is the diagnosis.

Once the parathyroid gland(s) that is releasing too much PTH is removed, the other healthy parathyroid glands come out of dormancy in a few days and will maintain normal blood calcium, thus surgery cures this disease.

One cause of hyperparathyroidism is the kidneys not releasing the active form of vitamin D. This causes the parathyroid glands to release too much PTH, causing too much calcium to be released from bone. The active form of vitamin D is called calcitriol and is available by prescription.

Would a drug be useful for bone loss caused by the disease? No. The body repairs broken bones better than new and certainly can increase bone density on its own – if it’s given what it needs to increase bone density, including a supplement of boron (ionic boron is best), a supplement of magnesium, and a supplement of a high bioavailable calcium supplement (calcium citrate). Keeping body pH normal (saliva pH of 7.0-7.2) is very important in preventing leaching of calcium from bone. The pounding of walking signals the body to increase bone density.

There are several other diseases that cause bone loss.

Other Causes Of Bone Loss

Vegetarians who don’t drink soda lose half as much bone in their old age compared to meat eaters.

Coffee drinkers have over twice as many hip fractures as non coffee drinkers.

Homocysteine

Bone Loss and Losing Teeth