Robin’s synopsis of MICRONUTRIENTS and OSTEOPOROSIS with Mira Calton & Dr. Jayson Calton
Authors of Rebuild Your Bones: The 12- Week Osteoporosis Protocol
Mira was diagnosed with osteoporosis in her 30s and found a protocol, including micronutrients, that reversed her bone health.
The Calton’s interest in osteoporosis led them to spend time with indigenous cultures, traveling for over seven years, to learn about health and wellness. What they found was that moving away from remote areas changed people’s environment, lifestyle, and diet. This had a profound, negative effect, on their health within just a few years.
WHAT ARE MICRONUTRIENTS?
Micronutrients are vitamins (like Vitamin C, D, and K), minerals (like calcium and magnesium), essential fatty acids (like fish oil), and amino acids (nine essential amino acids found in protein). Deficiencies in any of the above can cause health conditions and disease and have an effect on bone health.
93% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D which is important for bone health and overall immunity. Considering that this is just one of many micronutrients, assume that you are deficient in at least one. Knowing your levels of micronutrients with testing, allows you to monitor changes with supplementation. Most people can become sufficient quickly if nutrients are taken in the right quantities, at the right time, and in the right form.
Micronutrient sufficiency is the key to reversing osteoporosis.
Micronutrients can compete and interact with one another, so how they are taken is important.
Testing is a specific type of blood test that will show how nutrients are being utilized.
Mira and Jayson look at 3 key factors for bone health: food, lifestyle, and supplementation, and give detailed information in their book. Sometimes, only a small tweak is needed to make big changes. All nutrients must be present and work together, like an orchestra. No vitamin or mineral can do the role of the other.
NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY
The idea of vitamin deficiencies is not new. Funk and Wagnalls, over 100 years ago, created the vitamin deficiency theory of disease. Scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency, so even a single deficiency can lead to chronic disease.
Understanding how these nutrients work and how they come together like an orchestra for your health gives you the power to slow down, stop or even reverse a condition.
Things that deplete micronutrients are stress, over-exercising, exposure to toxins, lack of quality sleep, and some medications.
Micronutrients are natural detoxifiers and can chelate the toxicity of heavy metals. An example is selenium which detoxifies mercury -so, you can eat fish without the worry of ingesting this toxin.
Many pharmaceuticals try to mimic what micronutrients do naturally. Because you cannot patent a micronutrient, drug developers will reverse engineer how these elements work in the body. One example is Prolia, a RANKL inhibitor drug used for osteoporosis. At 3,000 mg/day, essential fatty acids, EPA and DHA, work in the body for bone health, without the side effects Prolia.
Pharmaceuticals are often prescribed improperly. An example is acid reflux medications. People pop this like candy to reduce stomach acid. What they don’t realize is that we need stomach acid to absorb our nutrients properly and digest our food, so in the long term, it actually makes things worse. It is best to use a digestive enzyme instead. Dr. Wright has found that up to 90% of people with osteoporosis have reduced stomach acid.
Drinking a fizzy soda can also reduce stomach acid as it contains phosphoric acid. In addition, drinking water that is too alkaline will lower your pH, again reducing the acid you need to absorb micronutrients well.
Stress and the quality of your sleep affect bone health. Find ways to center yourself every morning and evening, stop watching the news, and do something you enjoy.
In their book, Rebuild Your Bones, Jayson and Mira outline 40 healing habits, including diagnostics, food, and supplements.
THERE IS NO PERFECT DIET
In studying indigenous cultures, the Caltons found that not one diet kept people living in remote areas healthy. Micronutrient sufficiency was being met by vastly different diets. In researching current, popular diets, Jayson found that most met only 13 out of the 27 nutrients needed for good health.
SpectraCell is a blood test that measures levels of micronutrients highlighting whether you are sufficient, insufficient, or actually deficient. This will help you determine if you need to make a dietary change and or supplement with nutrients to reach a sufficiency level. You can follow any diet as long as you know what nutrients you might need to supplement to fill in any gaps.
PROTEIN INTAKE
Although many diets talk about acid-base balance and have people reduce protein intake to make their system more alkaline, the Carltons believe that protein is needed to build bone. This is based on the research of Dr. Heaney.
The ideal protein intake is 0.545 times your body weight per day, split over several meals.
The Calton’s perspective on Strontium
Taking strontium, a mineral, was found to improve bone density on a Dexa scan and was added to many supplements to increase bone mass. However, the strontium, being heavier than calcium, was taking the place of calcium in the bone and while showing increased density, it is not flexible, making the bone more susceptible to breaks. Although strontium is found in bone, it is at a ratio to calcium of 1:1,000 and is not essential for health.
In short, strontium makes bone denser, which will improve your DEXA score but makes bone more brittle. It also competes with calcium, magnesium and iron for absorption.
Minerals that Compete
Minerals or vitamins that compete for receptor sites need to be taken at different times of the day. Calcium and magnesium should not be taken together, nor should Vitamin D and K2. Calcium and Magnesium, being alkaline, will degrade K2, so they should also be taken separately.
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Science has yet to show evidence that time-released supplements or using chelation (binding minerals to amino acids), to deliver vitamins or minerals is useful or needed.
In Conclusion
Get tested to know your current micronutrient status. Pay attention to your diet, especially your protein intake, and know if your current diet is deficient in specific nutrients. Know which micronutrients compete for absorption and keep them apart.
Find more information at caltonnutition.com or ABCsofsupplementation.com
My solution for creating new habits:
Start small, do it in community, have an accountability partner!