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Dr. Weil: 10 Foods to Prevent Osteoporosis
1.Low-fat or non-fat dairy products
2.Canned sardines and canned salmon
3.Dark green vegetables such as broccoli, collard greens and bok choy
4.Tofu
5.Calcium-fortified juices and carrageenan free soy milk
6.Black-eyed peas
7.Blackstrap molasses
8.Poppy seeds and sesame seeds
9.Almonds
10.Figs
Cancer Colorectal cancer Stomach cancer Ovarian cancer Pneumonia Osteopenia Dental health Osteoporosis Heart disease Fractures Allergies Stroke Prostate cancer Diabetes Fosamax Alzheimer's disease Pain Liver cancer Lung cancer Hypothyroidism Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
Dear KMFDallas:
Thanks for sharing this information from Dr. Weil, who is one of the web's most quoted doctors. However, I don't completely agree with his list of 10 foods for osteoporosis prevention. For example, Dr. Weil completely neglected to mention 6 osteoporosis-preventing superfoods, namely, green tea, prunes, garlic, onions, green onions, and leeks. Also, he only included tofu and soy milk as representative of the 7th osteoporosis-preventing superfood, soy, when I would have included virtually all soy products including edamame, natto, tempeh, soy cheese, soy burgers, soy dogs, soy sprouts, etc. Dr. Weil is correct that green vegetables are extremely, extremely, extremely good for osteoporosis prevention. However, he included things like black-eyed peas, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, almonds, and figs which, as far as I know, are not noteworthy for osteoporosis prevention. As for calcium-rich foods, Dr. Weil is correct that they would be helpful in preventing osteoporosis but this would apply only for undernourished (probably thin) people. Well-nourished people need to minimize their calcium intake from dairy foods in order to protect their bone health. Finally, eating sardines, salmon, and other high-fat fish would help to prevent heart attacks, strokes, most cancers, adult-onset diabetes, pneumonia, and Alzheimer's disease but would also have a slight negative effect on bone density because they would increase the total animal protein in our diet. Finally, canned sardines and canned salmon contain salt, which increases our risk of heart attacks, strokes, most cancers, renal disease, and osteoporosis.
I love this site! Okay, I'm a bit confused about eating dairy; I've read numerous articles about it being 'not good' for osteo. diagnosed folks... can anyone simply tell me why? Is it the animal protein issue (and that we eat too much)? What if we kept the protein down to the correct amount but included a cup of yogurt in that amount? I am not eating dairy (since I was diagnosed 1 and 1/2 months ago) and am not a land animal eater - but I do have small amounts of salmon during the week (counting up the protein etc...). I do the prunes (love those). I just want to know why dairy is not good for our bone (building).
Thanks - be well you nice people.
I would like to echo what betterbones said in the prevoius post - why is dairy bad for the bones?
The first thing I was asked when I saw my Osteoporosis specialist was are you eating plenty of milk, cheese and yoghurt? There was no mention of it not being good, quite the opposite.
Can anyone explain, because if professional bodies can't agree what chance do we have?!!!
Does anyone know how much protein you should limit yourself to if you have osteoporosis?
I'm echoing the others who want to know: dairy products -- "good" or "bad" or is this a matter of controversy? If "bad," why? If it's because of animal protein, again, why is that a bad thing. I mentioned the "bad" theory recently to one of my doctors, who stared at me coldly and said, "Why do you listen to those people?" Will someone with some solid credentials please help us out on this issue? (BTW, because of intestinal problems, I'm advised to eat yoghurt daily)
I must admit, huessysignoret, that I believe your doctor hit it right on the head. Every body is different, especially in the USA because of our very mixed gene pool. I knew I had endocrine problems and I sought a doctor (alternative) who had an in-house, bona fide nutritionist who tested my chemistry and thoroughly examined my medical history before we worked out an eating program for me.
I have a vicious reaction to dairy, especially fresh dairy: milk, cottage or farmer's cheese, yogurt, rennet, etc. I can tolerate some aged cheese but eventually that will sicken me also. I have hypoglycemia and need red muscle meat at least four times a week. Light on the fruit because of the sugar but full speed ahead with the low carbohydrate veggies and I love them. All organic (I grow my own in the summer), all fresh and properly cooked. A few raw for digestion. Nothing canned, This was worked out for me and no one else. It did take some money since insurance did not pay for the appointments or some of the tests. Some of the tests were reimbursed. The program was devised to help with my osteo, my hypoglycemia, my hypothyroidism and reduce some inflammation that I was surprised to learn that I had developed.
Then, the doctor put me on the minerals, vitamins, etc. that included boron, a mineral that holds your calcuim in and it improved my dental health in three months! I got to keep my teeth that were loosening in their sockets before the boron. And a strontium supplement.
I will be tested again in August and we may adjust the program depending on the results. My next DEXA test will be in October in the same lab as before.
We should all find someone who knows how to deal with individual chemistries. The tried and true 'rule of thumb' just isn't good enough when it's a person's life that is at stake.
An interesting sidelight: my physical therapist (I recovered), my conventional doctor and my alternative doctor have advised persons who can tolerate dairy to drink whole milk--seems the chemicals in reduced fat milk are not good for your health...hmmmm.
Best to all...
Dear GGG and others:
The amount of animal protein that a person can eat each day without harming his or her bone health varies depending on how much fruits and vegetables that person ate on that same day. A very high consumption of fruits and vegetables, especially green vegetables, will substantially increase the amount of animal protein that a person can consume on that same day without harming his or her bone health. Undernourished people (they tend to be thin) can greatly improve their bone health by swallowing one 600 mg calcium pill daily. Undernourished people can also greatly improve their bone health by eating more protein. Soy and green vegetables can work well for this purpose but any high-protein food sources, including fish, seafood, dairy, poultry, and meat can be beneficial sources of protein for undernourished people. The correct advice completely changes for well-nourished people (they tend to be slightly overweight). Well-nourished people need to minimize their intake of calcium from dairy foods for several reasons: (1) Increased risk of prostate cancer in men and possibly ovarian cancer in women from calcium consumption greater than 1,500 mg daily, (2) There is no benefit to bone health from intakes of calcium greater than 1,000 mg daily, and (3) excessive animal protein damages bone health. Well-nourished people can eat a certain amount of animal protein daily without damaging their bone health. If a well-nourished person consumes dairy foods on a certain day, then he would have used up his daily allowance for animal protein for that day and wouldn't be able to eat another animal-protein food that he likes even better than dairy foods (such as beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp, eggs, etc.) without damaging his bone health for that day.
Switching back now to the discussion of Dr. Weil's list of the 10 best foods for osteoporosis treatment and prevention: Although all green-colored vegetables (except starchy, green vegetables such as peas) probably work extremely well for osteoporosis prevention and treatment, I would especially recommend the following green-colored plants for improving our bone health: (1) Green tea, (2) Edamame - green, baby soybeans, (3) Green onions, (4) Leeks, (5) Parsley, (6) Cilantro, also known as Italian parsley or Chinese parsley, (7) Sweet bell peppers of all colors, (8) Green sprouts, including soy sprouts, broccoli sprouts, radish sprouts, etc., and (9) Frozen greens, including turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, and spinach. Here are 2 relevant links (the 2nd of these 2 web addresses was first shared on NOF Inspire by PikaB): http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/133/11/3592/F2 http://registration.akm.ch/einsicht.php?XNABSTRACT_ID=90811&XNSPRACHE_ID=2& XNKONGRESS_ID=93&XNMASKEN_ID=900 Caution: Although sweet bell peppers (all colors) are extremely good for our bone health and protect us from cancer, spicy-hot, capsaicin-containing, capsicum peppers such as fresh jalapeno peppers, fresh serrano peppers, fresh habanero peppers, fresh Anaheim peppers, fresh yellow banana peppers, powdered paprika, powdered chili pepper, powdered cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, and pickled hot peppers have all been strongly linked to much higher rates of cancer, especially stomach cancer and liver cancer: http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/ymehy/article/PIIS030698 7702001524/abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12800206 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8885323 http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/139/3/263 http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auid:1690449
Just want to say, Spinach is Oxalic (sp?) Acid, and takes Calcium from your bones.
I can only have 5 items off of that list that was posted about Dr. Weil. I'm dairy intolerant which has gotten worse as I'm aging. I cannot even tolerate soy! I'm highly allergic to almonds and anything with almonds in it, even almond blooms cause a severe reaction. I can't help thinking that maybe I would benefit better by figuring out what my American Indian ancestors ate and go that route. ;)
Take care everyone!
Cyn
Soy is not good if you are hypothyroid.
Hi Loods, Betterbones, and Huessysignoret,
I think the reason some people say dairy is not good for us is because it is acidic. I think the theory is that your body attempts to get you back to an alkaline balance by taking calcium out of your bones. Or something like that . . . sort of. I might not have this exactly right. There have been discussions on this board before--you can probably find them using the search function.
My endocrinologist just told me in April that I should eat lots of dairy. He didn't differentiate between whole milk and non-fat. I don't know if cultured products like cheese and yogurt have the same effect as milk. When asked about an alkaline diet, he said it has not been proven effective and that I should go home and take my Fosamax.
I had a naturopath tell me that cooked spinach is ok, but not raw. I don't remember if it had to do with the oxalic acid, though. Maybe the acid cooks out??
Dang~I love my cheese! Not the spinach so much.
Susan
To all those who wanted to know why well-nourished people need to limit calcium and/or dairy:
Here are 3 PubMed studies on how 1,500 mg per day of calcium might increase prostate cancer risk in men: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16492906 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12869397 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17278090 The following 4 PubMed studies say that well-nourished people gained no benefit to their bone health from higher daily intakes of calcium: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18065599 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9224182 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9278560 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12540414 The following PubMed article summarizes the whole situation for well-nourished people: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19321571 Caution: In several studies, including the following PubMed study done among undernourished populations, undernourished "vegetarians" (OR=2.2), who don't get enough calcium and/or protein because they don't eat enough vegetables but eat mostly just grains and not much of anything else, had even worse bone health than excessive meat eaters (OR=1.4): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18304358 Note how calcium supplementation (OR=0.6) and consumption of various protein-rich foods (OR=0.4 to 0.6) greatly improved the bone health of these undernourished people. Note also that the soy eaters (OR=0.3) and the tea drinkers (OR=0.3) had the best bone health, while those who continually exercised (OR=0.4) had almost as good bone health as the soy eaters and tea drinkers.
Personally, although I am well-nourished, I swallow one 600 mg calcium pill daily and get about 400 mg of calcium daily from my vegetables and fruits. The daily calcium pill helps me to minimize my consumption of dairy foods, which would be harmless if I didn't want to ever eat any other animal-source protein. However, since I eat high-fat fish almost every day, I must minimize my consumption of dairy foods just as a well-nourished beef eater or well-nourished chicken eater should do to protect their bone health.
As for the acid-alkaline theory, PikaB has shared several studies that indicate that this theory may not be the correct explanation for why eating more vegetables and less animal-source protein is good for our bone health. PikaB believes that the correct explanation may be the presence of numerous, specific, bone-friendly phytochemicals present in each vegetable.
Here are additional, non-scientific links on why excessive dairy consumption is detrimental to the bone health of well-nourished people: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/print.asp?ID=147 http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/lactose_intolerance.html http://www.cyberparent.com/nutrition/osteoporosiscausemilk.htm http://www.nutralegacy.com/blog/general-healthcare/recent-shocking-studies- milk-causes-osteoporosis/ http://www.news-medical.net/news/2005/09/12/13120.aspx http://babyreference.com/MilkingYourBones.htm http://www.newtreatments.org/osteoporosis
Dear R McChavin -- Isn't fresh salmon also a good anti-osteoporosis food. Why the emphasis on canned?
juliemarie:
"chemicals in reduced fat milk are not good for your health"??????
What "chemicals" are in lowfat or no fat milk?
Reducing the fat content does not reduce the calcium or Vit D (which is added).
It is a great boon for those watching their fat intake to be able to have lowfat and nofat dairy products.
Lucy Buckley PT aka Mother Goose
Actually, no spinach and milk at the same meal is what is advised. Spinach interferes with the body's absorption of calcium in the gut. It does not "draw calcium from the bones", per se. Same goes for phytates in some grains interfering with cacium absorption.
Lucy Buckley PT aka Mother Goose
Dear huessysignoret:
All seafood is not good for your bone health because seafood is animal-source protein. The Inuit (Eskimos) of Greenland have a very high osteoporosis rate - even higher than the U.S. - because they eat mostly just fish and the meat of marine mammals that eat fish and/or krill. The Greenland Inuit don't eat much fruit or vegetables. They also have a high consumption of salt, alcohol, and are heavy cigarette smokers. Yet, their total cancer rate is only half that of the U.S. and cardiovascular disease is almost non-existent among the Greenland Inuit. They also have a low rate of Alzheimer's disease. Thus, eating high-fat fish is extremely healthy for you in preventing heart attacks, strokes, most cancers, pneumonia, and Alzheimer's disease because of the omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and selenium that are plentiful in high-fat fish. But osteoporosis gets worse when you don't increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables to buffer the acid created in your blood by any animal-source protein. The healthiest way to eat salmon is to boil the frozen filets. The wild salmon is more expensive but has a better omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, less PCBs, more vitamin D, and more astaxanthin than the farmed salmon. However, the farmed salmon has just as much total omega-3 fatty acids as the wild salmon. (The farmed salmon is higher in total fat and total calories than the wild salmon). Both the wild and the farmed salmon are much healthier for you than beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, eggs, cheese, milk, etc. Canned salmon has no trans fat but it contains salt so it is not as healthy for you as the frozen wild salmon filets or fresh farmed salmon with no salt added. Smoked salmon is high in cancer-causing nitrosamines so it should be eaten only on extremely rare occasions.
Dear MotherGoose:
You are correct that nonfat (skim) milk is the least harmful way of drinking milk. Undernourished people, who tend to be deficient in calcium and protein, can greatly improve their bone health by adding 1 or even 2 cups of nonfat milk to their daily diet. Higher-fat milk products may taste better but they contain lots of artery-clogging saturated fat and a very small amount of trans vaccenic acid, a natural trans fat created by the bacteria in the cow's stomach. Even the nonfat milk contains a small amount of fat (about one-tenth as much fat as 2% reduced fat milk). I also want to remind everybody that canned condensed milk is not healthy for us because it is never sold as nonfat. The least healthy form of milk is powdered milk - even the nonfat powdered milk. Why? Mainly because powdered milk tends to contain cancer-causing nitrosamines. Powdered milk also contains a very small amount of trans fat and acrylamide but they are not as bad as the nitrosamines.
Re. food allergies; I have greatly improved my day to day existence (no more pain meds at all) with the anti-inflammatory diet. I suggest people research this; it's just a simple way to find out what seems to bother a person -- i.e nuts, vinegar, citrus, tomatoes, wheat, eggplant and other foods. I eliminated all suggested foods and slowly introduced them after a month- the results were interesting - my headaches returned when I added wheat and other things back into my diet. I supplement with vit. c and others that I don't get from foods. Check it out --
Actually, you can easily find BOTH canned fat-free sweetened condensed milk and canned fat-free evaporated milk. I would agree with Rmchavin that canned condensed milk is not good for us, but because of the sugar content, not the fat (if you buy the fat-free version). I've bought both national brands and generic brands for use in cooking.
According to recipezaar.com, "Unsweetened condensed milk is referred to as evaporated milk. A substitution for condensed milk would be 1/3 cup evaporated fat-free milk + 3/4 cup sugar + 2 tablespoons butter." Definitely not something you want to consume a lot of.
http://www.recipezaar.com/library/getentry.zsp?id=146
That's all . . .
Dear SusanRae:
Thanks for sharing with us your thoughts on condensed (canned) milk. Here in Hawaii where I live, none of the large supermarkets carries fat-free canned milk. They all carry canned milk with fat. I talked to the largest supermarket in Hawaii (Safeway) and they told me that the fat-free canned milk does exist but would need to be special ordered. Since I would have to pay shipping charges, the cost per can might end up being about twice the cost per can of canned milk with fat. Also, there would be inconvenience in having to repeatedly order it.
In fairness to the dairy industry, I would like to mention that dairy protein is not as harmful to our bone health as animal-source protein from grilled, broiled, barbecued, smoked, fried, or processed meats because most dairy foods do not contain much if any osteoblast-oxidizing free radicals. Most of the osteoblast-oxidizing free radicals in the typical U.S. diet are created when we cook or process our meats. Also, please do not be frightened by the omega-7 trans fatty acid, trans vaccenic acid, which is created by the bacteria in the cow's stomach and present in very small quantities in all dairy foods. According to Udo Erasmus, the author of the best-selling book, "Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill," one gram of the omega-7 trans fat (trans vaccenic acid) in dairy foods is not any more harmful to our health than one gram of the saturated fat in dairy foods. However, Mr. Erasmus says that one gram of the trans fat created when we fry foods in vegetable oil is much, much, much more harmful to our health than one gram of saturated fat.
The only complaint I have for our dairy industry is that the consumer who only wants to buy a small quantity of milk can't get milk that tastes as good as the consumer who is willing to buy a large quantity of milk. The high-quality plastic milk containers are only offered in the one gallon and half gallon sizes. People who only want to buy the quart size or pint size of milk must buy their milk in the old-fashioned, low-quality, paper containers. Milk purchased in paper containers doesn't taste as good, partly because it spoils more quickly but more because the glue used to seal the paper containers gets into the milk. I have seen the quart size of milk offered in high-quality plastic containers only in one supermarket (Foodland) and only at a very high price because it was "Organic." But it tasted good. I suspect that Organic milk has more fat in it than they claim that it has because it does taste better, even when compared against the non-organic milk in the high-quality plastic containers. Anyhow, I've decided to stop consuming dairy products completely, except on very special occasions, partly because I can't buy just a small quantity of the best-tasting nonfat milk at a reasonable price.
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