Vivian Answers Day # 26: Caffeine and Calcium, Cartilage Integrity, Strontium Conundrum, Osteopenia Diagnosis, Alkalizing Drink, And More!

Vivian Goldschmidt, MA Inspiration

Evidence-Based
7 min Read

Question & Answer #1

I like to drink unsweetened ice tea when I go out to eat, and get green tea sweetened with honey from Starbucks. My question is, is the caffeine bad for me?

– Donna

Dear Donna,

First, I’ll explain how caffeine works. It crosses over your body’s natural “filter” called the blood brain barrier, which means it directly affects the brain. There, caffeine “tricks” your brain cells because it mimics adenosine, so adenosine receptors pick it up. Then the adenosine can’t do its job, which is to increase blood flow to the cerebrum. Adenosine also acts as a neurotransmitter, and caffeine “plugs in” to receptor cells that should be receiving adenosine. In these key ways, caffeine depresses neural activity.

The thing about adenosine is that it’s not just in your brain – it’s found in every part of your body, so caffeine has the potential to affect every body system, including your bones.Adenosine receptors also play an inhibitory role in calcium uptake. Caffeine increases urine output of calcium, but you’d have to consume huge amounts for it to have any real effect, according to a recent study.1

I recommend you don’t consume more than the equivalent of three cups of coffee per day.

Regardless of caffeine content, however, black and green teas are acidifying and they both contain fluoride. But like coffee, tea also has health benefits. Check out the post ‘Drink This, Not That For Better Bone Health‘ which sheds some light on how to solve this dilemma.

Stay energetic (without too much caffeine)!

Question & Answer #2

I have your great book Save our Bones and I’m working my way through it. My question is this. How can I help keep the cartilage between the bones healthy?

– Patricia

Dear Patricia,

Excellent questions! Your joints are an important part of your skeletal structure, and need to be nourished and taken care of just like your bones. Cartilage is actually 75% water while the remaining 25% is a matrix of connective tissue composed of protein. This makes cartilage firm but flexible and rubbery, so it can alter its shape when it’s compressed, but also act as a stable cushion during weight-bearing exercise.

The watery environment makes an excellent support and is also conducive to nutrient transport and joint lubrication.

The good news is that you’re following the Osteoporosis Reversal Program, so you’re nourishing your cartilage along with your bones as you take the Foundation Supplements and follow the 80/20 ratio in your diet. Vitamin C is an especially helpful Foundation Supplement for joints and bones. If you haven’t yet, you can read more about Vitamin C here.

Here are a few other tips for keeping your cartilage in good shape:

  • Drink plenty of distilled water
  • Load up on foods that are rich in antioxidants.
  • Keep moving and exercise regularly.
  • And remember to keep smiling as well!

Question & Answer #3

What is your opinion of strontium supplements for improving bone health and growth?

– Katherine

Dear Katherine,

Many community members wonder why I do not recommend strontium supplements, yet it’s OK to take calcium supplements that have a small amount of strontium in them. Ultimately, it comes down to the dosage. I’ll explain.

Strontium is a “natural” mineral but, because of its reactivity, it is never found in an isolated form in nature. It’s invariably bonded to some other molecule. It’s the same with manufactured strontium supplements – that’s why you’ll usually see the strontium listed as “strontium citrate” or “strontium carbonate.”

Strontium ranelate is the main ingredient in the osteoporosis drug Protelos. It’s bonded to ranelate because that’s not a natural substance – drug companies can’t patent natural substances, so they have to synthesize them!

The bottom line is, no form of strontium has been proven safe for long-term use. Short-term use can cause bone thickening, which sounds good at first until you realize that strontium accomplishes this by increasing the outer layer of bone and undermining bone health and tensile strength (tensile strength is the real key to preventing fractures).

Therefore, I do not recommend a separate strontium supplement or large amounts of strontium added to calcium supplements. The small amounts of naturally-occurring strontium, about 3 to 5mg, that are found in algae-based calcium supplements are not a problem. But you’ll want to stay away from supplements that have hundreds of milligrams of strontium.

If you still have questions – and it’s good to ask questions! – you might want to get more in-depth details about strontium.

To your bone health success!

Question & Answer #4

Hi Vivian,
I had osteoporosis about 5 years ago, I recently took another bone scan and was told that I have osteopenia, my question is what the difference between the two and what I need to do? Thanks for your info.

– Shirley

Dear Shirley,

Congratulations on your success, Shirley! You’ve reversed your osteoporosis, and, as you’ll find out, osteopenia is an invented condition. Osteopenia is a term developed in the 1980s to denote low bone density that’s not quite low enough to be considered osteoporosis. As you might have guessed, this gives the medical establishment a good excuse to push drugs to “prevent” the onset of osteoporosis… even though there is no medical basis to suggest that osteopenia will develop into osteoporosis.

The drugs that are used to treat osteoporosis are the same ones used to treat osteopenia – even the dosage is the same. While this is a boon for Big Pharma, prescribing a drug for a condition that “might happen” really makes no sense (not that prescribing drugs for osteoporosis makes sense either!)

As for what you need to do – you’re already on the right track because you are part of the Save Our Bones community!

And you can read more about osteopenia here.

Keep up with the Program!

Question & Answer #5

Dear Vivian,

I’ve heard for many years, that squeezing a lemon into a glass of water and drinking it in the morning will make your body alkaline. If this is true, wouldn’t it be necessary to continue that several more times throughout the day?
Thanking you in advance for your response.

– Barbara

Dear Barbara,

The advice you’ve heard is correct. Lemons are one of the Foundation Foods in the Osteoporosis Reversal Program. Not only are they alkalizing, but they also provide Vitamin C, one of the Foundation Supplements.

In the Osteoporosis Fresh Start Cleanse, the 7-day Osteoporosis Drug Cleanse, I recommend exactly the same – lemon juice in water. In fact, it’s the only thing you drink on Day 1 of the Cleanse. However, there’s no need to squeeze an entire lemon into a glass of water (unless you want to make bone-healthy lemonade, like in this recipe!). Rather, you can simply squeeze a few drops into a glass of distilled water and sip throughout the day. This does promote alkalinity in the body because lemon, despite its tart, acidic taste, has such a powerful alkalizing effect.

For more ways to restore your body’s pH while cleansing your system, I encourage you to check out the New Expanded Edition of the Osteoporosis Fresh Start Cleanse. This step-by-step cleanse now has more recipes than the old version, complete with shopping lists, all designed to detoxify and help rid your body of osteoporosis drugs.

Even if you have never been on an osteoporosis drug treatment, and feel in top form right now, chances are you have high levels of toxins in your body that are an obstacle to full health and wellness.

If you have been on an osteoporosis drug treatment, you can’t afford to wait any longer. You need to try the Osteoporosis Fresh Start Cleanse: The Seven Day Osteoporosis Drug Cleanse risk-free.

If after seven days you don’t experience improved health and energy, simply email Customer Support within 60 days of purchase date to request a full refund. We’ll refund 100% of your money, no questions asked.

To your “cleaner” future!

References

1 M.A. Addicott, L.L. Yang, A.M. Peiffer, L.R. Burnett, J.H. Burdette and M.Y. Chen, et al. The effect of daily caffeine use on cerebral blood flow: how much caffeine can we tolerate?. Hum Brain Mapp,  30  (2009), pp. 3102–3114.