Tag: calcium

The Body’s Calcium Economy

The Body’s Calcium Economy: Why Dietary Calcium Primarily Replenishes Bone Reserves and How High Lifetime Oxalate Intake Can Contribute to Osteopenia and Osteoporosis

The common belief that calcium consumed in food directly supplies the body’s immediate physiological needs is a misconception. In reality, the human body maintains an exquisitely tight control of blood ionized calcium concentration (approximately 8.5–10.5 mg/dL) to support critical functions such as neurotransmission, muscle contraction, and blood clotting (Peacock, 2010). When dietary calcium absorption is insufficient in the short term, the body does not compromise these functions; instead, it rapidly mobilizes calcium from the skeleton through parathyroid hormone (PTH)-mediated bone resorption and renal calcium reabsorption (Mundy & Guise, 1999; Weaver et al., 2016). Dietary calcium absorbed hours to days later serves primarily to replenish the skeletal reservoir that was borrowed to maintain plasma calcium homeostasis (Heaney, 2001; Nordin, 1997).

Thus, over a lifetime, bone health depends on whether absorbed dietary calcium consistently matches or exceeds the amount removed from bone to defend blood calcium levels. Chronic negative calcium balance—where less calcium is absorbed than is resorbed from bone—leads to progressive loss of bone mineral density, culminating in osteopenia and, eventually, osteoporosis (Weaver et al., 2016).

One underappreciated cause of chronically reduced calcium absorption is a lifelong high intake of dietary oxalates. Oxalate, abundant in foods such as spinach, Swiss chard, beet greens, almonds, tea, and chocolate, binds calcium in the intestinal lumen to form insoluble calcium oxalate, which is excreted in feces (Liebman & Al-Wahsh, 2011; Noonan & Savage, 1999). This markedly lowers the bioavailability of calcium from that meal and, if habitual, from the overall diet (Weaver & Heaney, 2006). Multiple studies and reviews have concluded that very high oxalate diets can impair net calcium absorption sufficiently to increase bone resorption and elevate long-term risk of osteoporosis, particularly when total calcium intake is marginal or when other risk factors (e.g., postmenopausal estrogen decline, low vitamin D status) are present (Holmes & Kummerow, 2000; Massey et al., 1993; Tang et al., 2008).

In summary, the skeleton functions as both a structural framework and a dynamic calcium bank. Dietary calcium is used mainly to repay withdrawals made from that bank to sustain plasma calcium. A lifetime pattern of high oxalate consumption can reduce calcium repayment, forcing chronic overdraft on skeletal reserves and thereby contributing—along with other risk factors—to the development of osteopenia and osteoporosis.

References

Heaney, R. P. (2001). Calcium needs of the elderly to reduce fracture risk. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 20(2 Suppl), 192S–197S. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2001.10719033

Holmes, R. P., & Kummerow, F. A. (2000). The relationship of adequate and excessive intake of vitamin D to health and disease. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 11(11-12), 581–590.

Liebman, M., & Al-Wahsh, I. A. (2011). Probiotics and other key determinants of dietary oxalate absorption. Advances in Nutrition, 2(3), 254–260. https://doi.org/10.3945/an.111.000414

Massey, L. K., Roman-Smith, H., & Sutton, R. A. (1993). Effect of dietary oxalate and calcium on urinary oxalate and risk of formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 93(8), 901–906. https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-8223(93)91531-6

Mundy, G. R., & Guise, T. A. (1999). Hormonal control of calcium homeostasis. Clinical Chemistry, 45(8 Pt 2), 1347–1352.

Noonan, S. C., & Savage, G. P. (1999). Oxalate content of foods and its effect on humans. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 8(1), 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-6047.1999.00038.x

Nordin, B. E. C. (1997). Calcium and osteoporosis. Nutrition, 13(7-8), 664–686. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0899-9007(97)83011-0

Peacock, M. (2010). Calcium metabolism in health and disease. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 5(Suppl 1), S23–S30. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.05910809

Tang, B. M., Eslick, G. D., Nowson, C., Smith, C., & Bensoussan, A. (2008). Use of calcium or calcium in combination with vitamin D supplementation to prevent fractures and bone loss in people aged 50 years and older: A meta-analysis. The Lancet, 370(9588), 657–666.

Weaver, C. M., & Heaney, R. P. (2006). Calcium. In M. E. Shils et al. (Eds.), Modern nutrition in health and disease (10th ed., pp. 194–209). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Weaver, C. M., Gordon, C. M., Janz, K. F., Kalkwarf, H. J., Lappe, J. M., Lewis, R., O’Karma, M., Wallace, T. C., & Zemel, B. S. (2016). The National Osteoporosis Foundation’s position statement on peak bone mass development and lifestyle factors: A systematic review and implementation recommendations. Osteoporosis International, 27(4), 1281–1386. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-015-3440-3

Osmosis…Water ALWAYS follows salt

Maybe you are not dehydrated. Maybe you have an electrolyte deficiency disorder that is preventing you from achieving sufficient levels of hydration no matter how much water you drink.

What would an electrolyte deficiency disorder look like you ask?

Electrolyte deficiencies can present with a variety of clinical symptoms, depending on which electrolyte is deficient. Here are some common electrolyte deficiency disorders and their clinical presentations:

1. Hyponatremia (Low Sodium)
Symptoms: Nausea, headache, confusion, fatigue, muscle weakness, seizures, and in severe cases, coma.
Causes: Excessive water intake, heart failure, kidney disease, liver disease, and certain medications.

2. Hypernatremia (High Sodium)
Symptoms: Thirst, restlessness, irritability, muscle twitching, seizures, and coma.
Causes: Dehydration, excessive salt intake, diabetes insipidus, and certain medications.

3. Hypokalemia (Low Potassium)
Symptoms: Weakness, fatigue, muscle cramps, constipation, arrhythmias, and in severe cases, paralysis.
Causes: Diuretic use, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive sweating, and certain medications.

4. Hyperkalemia (High Potassium)
Symptoms: Muscle weakness, fatigue, numbness, tingling, arrhythmias, and in severe cases, cardiac arrest.
Causes: Kidney failure, excessive potassium intake, certain medications, and tissue damage.

5. Hypocalcemia (Low Calcium)
Symptoms: Numbness and tingling in fingers, muscle cramps, spasms, seizures, and cardiac arrhythmias.
Causes: Vitamin D deficiency, hypoparathyroidism, chronic kidney disease, and certain medications.

6. Hypercalcemia (High Calcium)
Symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, muscle weakness, confusion, and in severe cases, cardiac arrest.
Causes: Hyperparathyroidism, cancer, excessive vitamin D intake, and certain medications.

7. Hypomagnesemia (Low Magnesium)
Symptoms: Muscle cramps, tremors, seizures, arrhythmias, and personality changes.
Causes: Alcoholism, malnutrition, chronic diarrhea, and certain medications.

8. Hypermagnesemia (High Magnesium)
Symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, low blood pressure, respiratory depression, and cardiac arrest.
Causes: Kidney failure, excessive magnesium intake, and certain medications.

9. Hypophosphatemia (Low Phosphate)
Symptoms: Weakness, bone pain, confusion, respiratory failure, and in severe cases, seizures and coma.
Causes: Malnutrition, alcoholism, diabetic ketoacidosis, and certain medications.

10. Hyperphosphatemia (High Phosphate)
Symptoms: Itching, joint pain, muscle cramps, and in severe cases, calcium deposits in tissues.
Causes: Kidney failure, excessive phosphate intake, and certain medications.

Each of these electrolyte imbalances can have serious consequences if not addressed promptly. Diagnosis typically involves blood tests to measure electrolyte levels, and treatment depends on the underlying cause and severity of the deficiency or excess.

Fruit, Soups and Salads

This is a continuation of my previous writ “Why I Am No Longer a Raw Vegan.”

To further clarify my point. Because I would hate to see people walk away from a whole-food/plant-based diet when they don’t need to.

We can get enough of the right stuff in from a whole-food/plant-based diet, but we need to be sure to be getting ENOUGH of ALL in their organic forms. Calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate, potassium, and sodium are the 6 most important electrolytes that our bodies need to function properly.

These electrolytes are minerals in our body that have an electric charge. They are in our blood, urine, tissues, and other body fluids. Electrolytes are important because they help balance the amount of water in our bodies. Balance our body’s acid/base (pH) levels. Their job is to move nutrients into our cells and waste out those cells. They ensure that your brain, heart, skin, muscles, nerves work the way they are crafted to.

Our body cannot function properly if these are not being consumed in sufficient amounts. And if you get too many, our kidneys are there to remove any excesses. On the flip side, our body cannot make these on its own and has to work harder to correct the imbalances by lowering the levels of all the electrolytes across the board spending our vital energies and bodily fluids that could be used elsewhere.

The problem with a fruitarian, frugivore, or any other raw diet is that the so-called “approved,” selections oftentimes won’t provide enough of the required electrolytes for continuous optimal function resulting in disfunction. Not because there is something wrong with being a frugivore as some can do so successfully, but that most people on Earth live far enough outside of the temperate zones where there is plenty and often times find themselves eating more of one kind rather than a rich variety.

The kinds of foods that do contain ENOUGH of ALL the required electrolytes cannot be assimilated in their raw state. Hence, the suggestion to eat your vegetables in the form of a slow-cooked soup.

Pick any or all of our common fruits consumed on a typical raw vegan, frugivore, or fruitarian diet and go through the above listed 6 electrolytes and see how much each of those is found in sweet juicy fruits and gentle leafy greens. It should become obvious to anyone how problematic it would be and how difficult it would be to get enough from eating raw alone in most parts of the world we live in today. The only one you might get enough of is potassium.

Yet a homemade bowl of slow-cooked vegetable soup that contains dark leafy greens, legumes, lentils, and sweet potato for dinner a few nights a week would solve this problem sufficiently. The attached picture will give you an idea.
And to be clear, I am not suggesting the use of table salt. It is not necessary. But it sure does taste good.

Sodium is necessary for our muscles and nerves to function properly. It also helps by controlling the fluids in our body that impact blood pressure.

Chloride is important in that it balances out other electrolytes. It also balances acidity and alkalinity, maintaining healthy pH, and is essential for nutrient assimilation.

Potassium is important for overall muscle contraction which in turn also regulates our heart and blood pressure. It assists in the transmission of nerve impulses. It also contributes to bone health.

Magnesium is important to the production of what we call proteins; our body’s machinery that does most of the heavy lifting along with the instructions for those biological machines so that they can function properly in both stable and changing environments. The rhythm of our heart depends on it. It is a regulator of glucose levels in our blood and enhances our immune functions.

Calcium is important for strong bones and healthy teeth. It is an important regulator of nerve impulses and muscular movements. It also assists in the formation of blood clotting factors.

Phosphate enhances the work of calcium by strengthening bones and teeth. It also assists in the production of energy needed for soft tissue growth and repair.

Bicarbonate plays a key role in balancing our body’s pH levels while helping control electrical signaling at the cellular level in conjunction with sodium, potassium, and chloride.

*Why Am I No Longer a Raw Vegan?

Why am I no longer a raw vegan?

Simply put…Insufficient electrolytes and subsequent imbalances. Not enough of ALL of the needed electrolytes, with excesses of some, like potassium.

Water and electrolytes are essential to our health. Electrolytes take on a positive or negative charge when they dissolve in your body fluid. This enables them to conduct electricity and move electrical charges or signals throughout your body. These charges are crucial to many functions that keep you alive, including the operation of your brain, nerves, and muscles, and the creation of new tissue.

Simply put, bad things happen over long frames of time that often go unnoticed because of the slow crawl towards the disease states of these deficiencies.

I am not suggesting salting your foods by any means. But I am suggesting looking at the ways to get ENOUGH of ALL of the needed electrolytes for OPTIMAL human functionality and longevity of years.

And a raw vegan diet in my humble opinion is not a way to accomplish that end.

I intend to attend my birthday at 120 years with a body that looks and feels no more than a robust 34. And I will do what it takes to get there. Even admitting when I have been wrong in practice.

See you in 2092.