Posted 3/17/2020 9:50 AM (GMT -5)
I was watching a doctor's talk in an online summit recently (not an LLMD) about osteoporosis, and he said some things that were unfamiliar to me. (Grain of salt, etc.) So according to women's health specialist John MacDougall, 70% of people who are given a bone mineral density test "fail" and are told they have osteopenia or osteoporosis, for which they then are given drugs they are supposed to take for life. When people with uteruses go through menopause, their bodies discard two pounds of minerals that their bodies had been storing as a stash for prospective fetuses; after menopause, they obviously don't need those stashes anymore. So there is definite mineral loss, but minerals are unrelated to bone strength. The flexible tissues in bone are what make it strong (which is why it's so much easier to break a dried chicken bone than a fresh one - the tissues are still doing their job in the fresh one). He recommends direct sunlight, weight-bearing exercise, and a whole foods plant-based diet to keep bones strong. For people who genuinely have bone strength issues, he recommends a diet lower in acids and protein than the typical Western diet. He also points out that being of a larger weight is actually somewhat protective, as a person carrying lots of weight around is reinforcing bone with weight-bearing all day!
I have not verified any of this yet, but found it intriguing. Obviously none of us here would be surprised to learn of a new way that the medical industrial complex is misleading, mistaken, or money-driven. I plan to look into this further because my mom is on a brand-new injectable drug (Forteo) to reverse osteoporosis quickly in preparation for spinal surgery. She had to sign multiple waivers saying she understands that every animal trial of this drug caused high rates of osteosarcoma, which means it's likely to do so in humans. (Holy crap, right?!) So if the osteoporosis thing is a racket, at least partially, then I definitely want to know!