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There is a lot of confusion about osteoporosis. Most people think that if you take a calcium supplement you’ll be okay. However, not only will this not help, but it is totally disregarding the other side: negative prevention.

Allow me to explain. You must not only take a positive step towards preventing osteoporosis (in many peoples’ cases, adding a calcium supplement), you must also take a negative step towards preventing it (as in, taking something away).

However, what could we possibly take away that would prevent osteoporosis? After all, what causes it is a lack of calcium density in the bones, not too much. Taking things away will only lead to more of a deficiency, right?

While this logic may seem pretty basic, almost like 1+1=2, 1-1=0. If you take away from the equation, you take away from the solution. However, with health it is not that simple. There is something called the acid-alkaline balance that I would like to bring to your attention.

Human blood and urine are meant to be slightly alkaline (about 8 pH). Very few liquids in the human body are meant to be acidic, the most obvious being stomach acid. Our bodies maintain homeostasis, so your stomach acid alway remains acidic (a pH of 1) and your blood remains alkaline. However, our urine tends to change to slightly acidic to slightly alkaline depending on the food we eat, since it gets expelled this way. Testing urine pH is very telling to what is going on in the body.

Now, because the body is constantly creating homeostasis, many people want to call the acid-alkaline theory bunk. I assure you that it is not. The argument goes that if the body maintains homeostasis, then we don’t need to worry about what we eat because this balance never changes. They would be correct in one respect: our bodies do a good job and do keep things relatively equal. The process does, however, come at a price.

I will now explain why our urine pH is to telling as to what is going on inside of us. When we eat an acidic food and it is broken down and sent to our blood stream, our blood must respond by making the pH alkaline again. How it does this is similar to how someone with heartburn takes Tums to lessen their stomach acid. The body takes calcium and pumps it into the blood to create homeostasis again. There is always calcium in your blood. However, your body needs to store it sometimes, and where do you think your body stores calcium? That’s right, your bones. And every time you eat an acidic food, that calcium leaches from your bones into your blood to create homeostasis again. So, when you eat acidic food, you leach calcium through your urine and are in fact losing calcium, not gaining it.

Some acidic foods are touted for their high calcium content. However, this calcium is almost always (if not always) difficult to absorb and is itself passed out of the body. In short, the amount of calcium you may obtain from an acidic food in no way makes up for the calcium it leaches from your body. Keep in mind, not all calcium is equal. There are foods out there that contain perfect types and quantities of calcium for us.

Here’s the real question: What’s acidic? What must I stay away from to prevent calcium leaching from my bones? What should I eat so I can get adequate and easy to absorb calcium?

The answer: The most acidic foods are none other than the amazing dairy and meat that (not counting actual acids like vinegar) we all love so much. Add to this list eggs, fish (in case you weren’t counting it in meat) and other creatures of the ocean, and its pretty safe to say that anything that comes from an animal is best left alone.

And foods that are alkaline and good for us? Fruits, leafy greens and pretty much all vegetables. We get plenty of calcium from all of these things, in its natural state and ready for our bodies to absorb. Eating in this way will bring our urine pH to the alkaline side, which shows that inside our body our blood is not being rampaged by acidic food.

The short of it is to eat less animal products and more fruits and tender leafy greens/vegetables (preferably raw) if you want to avoid osteoporosis. Stay away from calcium supplements because they are honestly just a waste of money and can harm you by taxing your kidneys to detox all of the extra, difficult to absorb nutrients. A tell-tale sign is that if your urine is yellow (or anything other than mostly clear), you are leaching nutrients and should reconsider the foods and supplements you are taking. If you leach vitamins and minerals, then your food or supplements aren’t doing you any good.

Lia Cross

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