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Healthy Bones: It Takes More than Just Calcium

Healthy Bones: It Takes More than Just Calcium

By Andrea Bartels CNP NNCP RNT
Registered Nutritional Therapist

01 May 2024

Healthy Bones: It Takes More than Just Calcium

Bones: they give our bodies form, structural support, help us move, protect our vital organs, store minerals, and produce both red and white blood cells.  Although over 40 percent of healthy bone mass is calcium, it takes a whole crew of minerals and vitamins to maintain strong, dense bones.  Let’s look at three of the most well-studied nutrients for maintaining bone health and how we can maximize their potential benefits. 

Calcium

Each of the 206 bones in our adult bodies are composed of collagen, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and smaller amounts of many other minerals. Once a mineral is attached to the protein-based collagen structure of our bones it forms what’s called hydroxyapatite. This is what gives bones their mass and strength, making them less vulnerable to fracture—as long as their mineral content and the lattice-like protein structures are maintained. 

It's always a good idea to aim to fulfil around half of your daily calcium requirements from food sources, if possible. But nowadays, more individuals are choosing plant-based milk substitutes instead of dairy milk. Regardless of the reasons, it’s important to realize that not all of these milk substitutes are fortified with calcium. They also tend to be low in other minerals that bones contain because these products are subject to food processing methods that remove a lot of the naturally occurring nutrients. Plus, if you’re just using them in place of dairy creamer or milk in your cereal instead of drinking them you’re probably not fulfilling your daily calcium requirements. That’s why taking a natural health product can best help you achieve your daily calcium goals. 

When it comes to choosing a supplemental calcium source, high-quality calcium hydroxyapatite is an ideal form of calcium to take for several reasons. It’s an organically-bound calcium complex with the built-in benefits of minerals and proteins that are naturally occurring in the bone matrix: proteins, bone growth factors, calcium, phosphorus, trace minerals, and more.  That’s because it comes from bone meal. Calcium hydroxyapatite also has greater bioavailability than calcium citrate and calcium carbonate, meaning more of each dose can be absorbed into circulation.  Unlike calcium citrate, calcium hydroxyapatite doesn’t add more acid into your system.  This is an important consideration because we want to protect bone tissue from being eroded by acidic by-products of everyday metabolic functions—and avoid exposure to corrosive acids. 

Pure Lab’s Calcium Hydroxyapatite contains certified BSE-free Australian bovine bone meal, providing 250 milligrams of elemental calcium per capsule. But it also naturally contains all of the other bone growth factors present in bone—something you can’t get from other calcium sources. Like all of Pure Lab’s products, each batch undergoes testing by a third party to ensure its safety and potency.  At a dose of 2 capsules daily, you can achieve about 50 percent of your daily calcium requirements, or 100 percent of your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of 1000 milligrams with just 4 capsules. If you have been diagnosed with osteopenia or osteoporosis, you can get a full 1500 milligrams of calcium in 6 capsules. Remember, it’s always best to spread out doses through the day, to maximize absorption. 

Vitamin D

Vitamin D3 (calciferol) has several important functions when it comes to bone health.  It’s essential to calcium absorption and utilization, assisting the uptake of calcium from the small intestine into the bloodstream. It then helps deliver calcium to the bones and teeth and is essential for their mineralization. It’s this mineralization that increases bone density, which adds strength to the bones. 

Vitamin D also regulates calcium levels in the blood by controlling the secretion of parathyroid hormone. When the amount of calcium in the blood decreases, parathyroid hormone tells the bones to release calcium back into the blood, where it’s needed for nerve and muscle function. 

Without Vitamin D, our bones would become soft, and the weight-bearing ones would actually bend as a result of vitamin D3 deficiency. In children, this is known as rickets, and in adults, it’s osteomalacia. This condition can lead to many complications that affect the bones and teeth, like fracture. 

Keeping blood levels of vitamin D up without supplementation is challenging because most diets are typically low in this vitamin.  Plus, in cold climates like Canada and the countries of northern Europe we live indoors for much of the year, and when outdoors, many of us wear sunscreen. Both of these factors reduce the skin’s production of vitamin D. 

Although Canadian-produced milk is fortified with vitamin D3, plant-based milk substitutes are inconsistent in this regard. Meanwhile, high food sources are restricted to organ meats and oily fish.  Why not supplement?  Pure Lab’s Vitamin D3 is a dry, crystalline form of vitamin D3. It has a longer-lasting potency than oil-filled vitamin D capsules, which tend to go rancid and lose their potency more quickly.  Pure Lab’s Vitamin D3 comes in 1000 i.u. and 2500 i.u. potency capsules, in regular and vegan formats. 

Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 (menaquinone) works in tandem with vitamin D and calcium for bone maintenance. It’s vital for the production of osteocalcin, a protein that calcium crystallizes onto. Vitamin K increases the activity and numbers of osteoblasts—the bone building cells.  Meanwhile, it reduces bone resorption by reducing the activity of osteoclasts—the bone-demolishing cells that make room for new bone cells. 

 Low blood levels of vitamin K in humans have been associated with osteopenia (low bone density) and osteoporosis (very low bone density), which are both conditions that increase risk of bone fracture. So if you’re worried about your bone density results and your potential fracture risk, you’ll want to ensure a daily intake of vitamin K2. Note that this is different from the Vitamin K1, found in leafy greens—which doesn’t have the same bone benefits as the K2 found in fermented soy products like natto, or aged cheese. But there are even different types of K2, with MK4 and MK7 being the . Which is better? The MK7 has been demonstrated to have a greater bioavailability than MK4, meaning more of it is absorbed into the body. 

There are a lot of brands offering Vitamin K2 as the MK7 variety, but they don’t all come with the same level of efficacy.  The vitamin K2 in typical supplements has such an affinity for calcium that it binds prematurely to calcium it comes across in the digestive tract. This is concerning because if Vitamin K2 is binding to calcium in the digestive tract, it means the calcium has a lower chance of being absorbed into the bloodstream.  Pure Lab has found a solution to this problem. Our Vitamin K2-MK7 is a soy-free product designed using double-microencapsulation technology. This keeps K2 away from calcium until it reaches the bloodstream. Only then will Vitamin K2 direct calcium to the bones.  Ultimately, this makes Pure Lab’s Vitamin K2-MK7 the most convenient Vitamin K2 because it can be taken with calcium supplements and calcium-containing foods. 

It's important to remember that bone is living tissue that is constantly undergoing remodeling.  In fact, like the clothes in our wardrobes, we each have an entirely new skeleton every 10 years!  Understanding the unique roles of each nutrient in bone maintenance is vital to a consistently bone-friendly lifestyle. Let’s show our bones some support for the hard work they do for us by nourishing them with the nutrients that help deliver on their promise. 

To learn even more about how you can support your bone density, please check out a recording of our webinar on Osteoporosis. 

 

References 

American College of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “Bone Health Basics”. Accessed online April 15, 2024. 

Castelo-Branco C, Cancelo Hidalgo MJ, Palacios S, et al. Efficacy and safety of ossein-hydroxyapatite complex versus calcium carbonate to prevent bone loss. Climacteric. 2020;23(3):252-258. 

Government of Canada. Dietary reference intakes tables: Reference values for elements. Accessed online April 17. 2024. 

Kappa Bioscience. “K2Vital Vitamin K2 MK-7: Scientific Fundamentals and Important Studies.” Hamburg, Germany, 2019. 

Mayo Clinic. “Rickets”. Accessed online April 11th 2024. 

McKinsey and Company. “Similar yet different: Meet today’s consumer of dairy and alternatives.” March 21, 2023. 

National Institutes of Health: Office Of Dietary Supplements.  Calcium: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. Accessed online April 17, 2024. 

National Institutes of Health: Office Of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin D: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals.  Accessed online November 11, 2022. 

National Institutes of Health: Office Of Dietary Supplements. Vitamin K: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. Accessed online January 3 2023. 

Sato T, Schurgers LJ, Uenishi K. Comparison of menaquinone-4 and menaquinone-7 bioavailability in healthy women. Nutr J. 2012;11:93. Published 2012 Nov 12. 

Sunyecz JA. The use of calcium and vitamin D in the management of osteoporosis. Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2008;4(4):827-836. 

Villa JKD, Diaz MAN, Pizziolo VR, Martino HSD. Effect of vitamin K in bone metabolism and vascular calcification: A review of mechanisms of action and evidences. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2017;57(18):3959-3970.

 

 

 

 


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