Osteoporosis – Can we prevent it or reverse it using plants?
Photo by Owen Beard on Unsplash
What is osteoporosis?
As the life expectancy increases, diseases like osteoporosis become more and more common. Osteoporosis is a compound word deriving from two Greek words. The word “osto” which means bone and, the word “poros” which means porous. During osteoporosis, the bones are being deteriorated, their mass is being decreased, they become fragile and there is a high risk of bone fractures. On the top of that, the creation of new bone tissue is not fast enough to keep up with the continuously weakened bones.
Unfortunately, osteoporosis does not have a single cause. It may occur due to genetic inheritance (50% -85% heritability) or many other factors such as medication, thyroid dysfunction, hormonal changes (low testosterone for men and low estrogen for women), luck of vitamin D, smoking, sedentary lifestyle, high alcohol consumption or unhealthy diet. Although it is usually diagnosed in post-menopausal women or older men, most of the people do not have any symptoms until they have a bone fracture.
However, there is good news! Osteoporosis can be prevented and reversed with a balanced diet, exercise and vitamin D supplementation combined with calcium supplements. In order to build healthy and strong bones your body constantly needs an adequate amount of nutrients such as calcium, protein, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin D, potassium, and fluoride. Several other vitamins and minerals needed for metabolic processes related to bone creation are also essential, including manganese, copper, boron, iron, zinc, silicon and the vitamins A, B, C and K1.
Food for osteoporosis prevention
Important scientific knowledge about vegan and vegetarian diets
According to an interesting scientific review about “Choices for achieving adequate dietary calcium with a vegetarian diet”, published in the American Journal of clinical nutrition, a plant based diet needs extremely detailed planning. “Some plants provide absorbable calcium, but the quantity of vegetables required to reach sufficient calcium intake make an exclusively plant-based diet impractical for most individuals unless fortified foods or supplements are included. Also, dietary constituents that decrease calcium retention, such as salt, protein, and caffeine, can be high in the vegetarian diet”.
Thus, if you are vegan or vegetarian you need to plan your diet very carefully in order not to have luck of calcium and other important nutrients. Check below some of the foods that can help you increase your calcium intake and some unhealthy habits that may hamper the calcium absorption.
To add to your diet
- Nuts
- Fresh figs or dried plums or currants (dried gooseberries)
- Sesame or almond paste
- Beans and especially black beans (always cook them to reduce the phytates which inhibit the absorption of calcium)
- Dark Green vegetables: broccoli, bok choy, kale, spinach
- Fortified foods with vitamin D
- Celery
- Wakame
- Molasses
- Chia seeds
- Cumin seeds – 1tbp of cumin seeds contains 19.6mg of calcium
- Rhubarb
- Sweet potatoes (good source of potassium)
- Grapefruit – Vitamin C increases calcium absorption
- Lots of antioxidants: osteoporosis is linked with oxidative stress
If you are omnivorous, you can also eat:
- Dairy – especially yoghurt
- Eggs
- Fish with small bones
- Bone broth
Unhealthy habits that contribute to osteoporosis development
Avoid
- Refreshments high in sugar and gas
- High sodium intake
- Excessive lipid intake
- High caffeine intake
Although the results of several scientific studies are conflicting regarding the link of caffeine with osteoporosis, it would be better to avoid high caffeine intake as it may also create heart problems or other nervous system related side effects.
- Excess vitamin A
How much Vitamin A do you need?
https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/vitamin-a-and-your-bones
Promising plant supplements to reverse osteoporosis
Although Vitamin D cannot be produced by plants, it’s an effective supplement against osteoporosis that is why it is worth mentioning it here. Physicians usually prescribe it together with calcium supplements to people with osteopenia or osteoporosis and according to scientific studies it’s a successful method to prevent osteoporosis. Attention: Very high doses of Vitamin D once per year may have adverse effects2.
Plant based supplements against osteoporosis
As mentioned above one of the causes of Osteoporosis may be hormonal changes (low testosterone in men and low estrogen in women. Thus, a common therapy is testosterone or estrogen hormones. According to scientific studies 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 all of the plant based supplements below are possibly mimicking the role of these hormones in the body and have been used traditionally in several countries not only for improving bone health, but also for other diseases. For the moment, most of these studies have been performed in animals and as humans may metabolize differently these plants, further studies are needed in order to understand better their mode of action.
- Drynaria fortune
For more information regarding other health benefits of Drynaria rhizome check here: https://nutritionreview.org/2014/07/drynaria-gentle-dental-herb/
There is one more supplement in the market that is based on red algae and is a natural source of calcium and magnesium. According to the few studies performed from the company that produces it, this supplement increases the bone density after 6 months and there are also some independent scientific studies7, 8 in animals that also show the potential beneficial role of red algae in osteoporosis. As with the previous plant-based supplements further research is needed in order to understand better their mode of action.
A balanced diet which includes regular exercise and avoidance of unhealthy habits is normally enough to prevent osteoporosis and we strongly recommend it. However, if you are under medication for osteoporosis and you would like to try a plant based supplement consult your doctor before stopping your medication or adding a new supplement to your diet.
Attention: In most of the diets worldwide the intake of zinc, manganese and copper is sufficient or exceeds the recommended dietary allowance. Thus, supplementation is not needed and may even have deleterious effects.
Important tip for new mothers
Building healthy and strong bones from a very young age is very important for later in life.
Developing and promoting the following habits in your child’s life is very important:
- Daily exercise outside
- Vitamin D supplementation in countries with low sunlight – consult your pediatrician
- Balanced diet with big variety
Having troubles to feed your child with lots of vegetables?
Check here 12 useful habits to develop in order to “Train your children eat healthy meals and love veggies”.