Osteoporosis is most prevalent in countries that consume the most dairy.
Dr. Campbell and Chris Proulx, the CEO of eCornell
And it’s almost non-existent in cultures who eat mostly whole plants. The simple answer to osteoporosis is the consumption of a whole foods, plant-based diet.
Today’s blog was posted in Ithaca, NY, where I have been working this week with our T. Colin Campbell Foundation. On Tuesday, we visited our online course partners at eCornell. Click here for more information about Chris Proulx (shown here with Dr. Campbell).
If you score 3Leaf or better on our 4Leaf scale, combined with appropriate exercise, I doubt very seriously that you will ever be diagnosed with osteoporosis. But I am not a doctor; therefore, I have included content from several medical doctors on this page. I have also provided you with an opportunity to schedule a private telephone consultation with a “plant-based savvy” medical doctor.
Two big myths about our western diet. Most of us grew up believing that the best source of protein was meat and the best source of calcium was dairy. We addressed both of these topics in Chapter 2 of our book. A quote from The China Study in that chapter:
Researchers have found that animal protein, unlike plant protein, increases the acid load in the body. The body does not like this acid environment and begins to fight it. In order to neutralize the acid, the body uses calcium, which acts as a very effective base. This calcium must come from somewhere. It ends up being pulled from the bones, and the calcium loss weakens them, putting them at greater risk for fracture.
Also in Chapter 2, we covered the statistics about osteoporosis and where it is most prevalent — in the countries that consume the most dairy. As a natural plant-eating species, our bodies were designed to get everything they need from whole plants — and that includes plenty of protein and calcium.
Supplements? Some of the MD’s in our book disagree on the topic of supplements or “fortification,” but, personally, I prefer Dr. Campbell’s conclusion—that it might be a good idea to take a little B12 and, if you don’t get out in the sun year-round — perhaps a Vitamin D supplement. That’s it; he said nothing about calcium supplementation.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his office in New Jersey
Which plants have calcium in them? To find out, I went to nutritiondata.com and examined the calcium content of the first ten fruits and vegetables that came to mind. ALL of them had calcium. As Dr. Joel Fuhrman says in the article on his blog (see link below):
Any healthy diet containing a reasonable amount of unrefined plant foods will have sufficient calcium without milk. Fruits and vegetables strengthen bones. Researchers have found that those who eat the most fruits and vegetables have denser bones.
He adds that “green vegetables, beans, tofu, sesame seeds, and even oranges contain lots of usable calcium, without the problems associated with dairy.” He also talks about the problem with our toxic western diet relative to calcium; “Keep in mind that you retain the calcium better and just do not need as much when you DON’T consume a diet heavy in animal products and sodium, sugar, and caffeine.”
Dr. McDougall with some sound advice on this topic (3-minutes)
In closing, I would like to mention the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico; a group of people that enjoy startling longevity, physical endurance and a virtual complete absence of our typical chronic diseases. And their diet consists of nothing but corn, squash and beans. I first learned about these people from Dr. Esselstyn and included them in our book as well.
The eCornell pennant
If they can thrive on such a limited variety of food, people everywhere should be able to thrive on 4Leaf for Life — aimed at helping you maximize the percent of your calories from whole plant foods. And, unlike the Tarahumara, we are blessed with the opportunity to enjoy a plethora of 4Leaf choices — 365 days a year.
One-on-one MD Help. Sadly, 95% of our medical doctors are not aware of the power of plant-based nutrition to combat many chronic diseases, including osteoporosis. If you would like a second opinion (about osteoporosis) from a medical doctor who truly “gets it” about food, you may wish to visit our MD Help page and schedule a telephone consultation with one of the MDs listed there.
The primary content of this blogpost now appears on a page in the drop-down list under the “Diseases” tab.
- From an earlier blog containing a Boniva video with Sally Field. FDA on Bone Drugs – Taking “confusion” to a new level
- For some real life osteoporosis success stories, take a look at #15 and #69 on this blog. From A to Z (81 successes) from Dr. John McDougall
- New York Times article (5-9-12) New Cautions About Long-Term Use of Bone Drugs
Consecutive daily blogs
My daily streak will end on February 11 with my 737th consecutive daily blog. But don’t worry—hpjmh.com will NOT be going dark. My plan is that it will be around for a very long time—hopefully long after I am gone. In the meantime, I will continue blogging, updating and adding pages that will focus on my mission of promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
Want to help support our mission? Click here for a few ideas
Handy 4-piece take-charge-of-your-health kit—from Amazon.com
- The movie that’s changing the lives of millions: Forks Over Knives DVD
- Healthy Eating, Healthy World, The “big picture” about food (our book)
- An essential scientific resource: The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell
- Dr. McDougall’s new book, The Starch Solution, with lots of great recipes.
Want to find out how healthy your family is eating? Take our free 4Leaf Diagnostic Survey. It takes less than five minutes and you can score it yourself. After taking the survey, please give me your feedback as it will be helpful in the development of our future 4Leaf app for smartphones. Send feedback to jmorrishicks@me.com
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J. Morris Hicks, working daily to promote health, hope and harmony on planet Earth.
For help in your own quest to take charge of your health, you might find some useful information at our 4Leaf page or some great recipes at Lisa’s 4Leaf Kitchen.
Got a question? Let me hear from you at jmorrishicks@me.com. Or give me a call on my cell at 917-399-9700.
Blogging daily at hpjmh.com…from the seaside village of Stonington, Connecticut – Be well and have a great day.
—J. Morris Hicks, board member, T. Colin Campbell Foundation
J. Morris Hicks, engineer. writer. big picture guy. 
I find Joanne Irwin’s submission replete with serendipity. Reports of “unexpected” deaths abound in daily reports. Point on how misleading outward appearances can be was well taken. Nice looking good and trim – but it’s what’s inside that counts. One need not be obese to be a walking time bomb. Skinny people can be clogged up.
If Pritikin’s research was essentially correct in claiming that ALL mammals commonly live to seven times the age at pubescence, 66 years is far too young to die. For older folks (79 or so) the average left averages less than ten years. But “average” must be affected in statistics by our Standard American Diete (SAD).
Anyway it’s HEALTHY life span that counts. Since fall of the wall, I’ve seen European ROLE MODELS over 80 completing 30, 40, or 50 kilometers a day IML hiking events. (International Marching League). For Political Correctness reasons, it’s now called the IML Walking Association. A similar thing happened in the US with the League of American Wheelmen (now League of American Bicyclists) since my days as LAW Midwestern Vice-President. I opposed the PC name change – to no avail.
As Role Models, Ruth Heidrich and William Harris win a prize for Senior Fitness.
About Weston A. Price’s “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.” I recommend the book – the photos alone are worth seeing. The “Foundation” touting author’s name is another matter. Book is expensive – but get it from any decent library. A good read.
At one of their meetings I met Sally Fallon. A pleasant enough lady, she was not a walking testimonial for her eating regimen. But to be fair and balanced, her obesity was less bad than others who attended her talk. In “America’s Dairyland” expect it.
CHEERS.
Thursday 7 February 2013 – Madison, Wisconsin
Jim’s Osteoporosis feature is one of the best posts yet published.. Good hearing that his prodigious work will be preserved on the web In an ongoing search for truth, one good link leads to another as “search this site” works quite well. Seek and ye shall find. INDEED.
USDA GREAT NUTRITION DEBATE REVISITED:
I recently received a notice on above from YouTube Service: Kitty McKnitty has made a comment on USDA GREAT NUTRITION DEBATE
“It’s good to know that 13 years later, we’ve finally settled this and everyone is getting consistent diet advice” SURE. Very clever.
After 259 visits, some comic relief is OK. But let’s have SOME viewers post a SERIOUS comments on who said what 13 years ago. Serious folks will find that basics of what Doctors Ornish and McDougall said in 2000 stand yet today. Ditto with Pritikin in 1978. NO JOKE.
SUGGESTIONS ON YOU TUBE PROTOCOL.
Although well meant, all too often, I see programs such as the above broken down into ten minute segments – Making viewing ENTIRE presentation an avoidable hassle. Also I urge everyone to accurately CITE ORIGINAL SOURCES. Accessing source – complete with exact date of presentation is advised. Also “first generation” videos and audios – rather than copies of copies of copies (of uncertain paternity) yield OPTIMUM quality for viewers or listeners.
While it’s nice seeing what presenters look like, where visuals are NOT evident (in “talking head” presentations) AUDIO ALONE may be best.
For sharing content with others, with cheap media it costs only pennies to make MP3 CDs or “ordinary” audio CDs (under 70 minutes or so). With MP3, of course, putting several hours of high quality audio on a disk is no problem. Most decent newer MP3 players today play EITHER MP3 Audio CDs OR “ordinary” audio CDs. Avoid buying obsolete technology. MP3 enabled CD players cost no more.
Files easily transfer from one device to another using thumb drives or with E-Mail attachments – making it easy to send Nathan Pritikin’s 1978 Summary and other good audio to kindred spirits via E-Mail.
As part of an effort to raise awareness on nutritional excellence, I’ll be publishing a lot of public domain video, audio, and documents on my web site – unprotected and publicly accessible. Over 15,000 transcript pages deal with unresolved whistle-blower issues. Stay tuned..
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
USDA Great Debate 2000 Nathan Pritikin (1915–1985)
* George McGovern (1922-2012)
Chairman of below Select Committee.
* U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition 1977 Report.
Happy to send a copy of above “Eating in America, Dietary Goals for the United States” as an E-Mail attachment to those who requesting The more studying this document the better. Also, PARTS of the 700 page supplement is very significant for serious students of history.
Great blog, Jim. This question comes up continually in my Food for Life classes – What about calcium? The Dairy Industry has done its due diligence in hypnotizing the public to believe that you need great globs of dairy, in all its insidious forms, to maintain bone health. Your book, daily blogs, along with posts from our plant based family members are finally filtering dairy truth to the public. I’m bringing today’s blog to my class, and will share the message.
A much beloved person in Naples, the owner of Food and Thought, an organic market, tragically died in his sleep a few days ago at the age of 66. This gentleman was a Naples tradition and his shelves of his organically grown produce were beautiful. He donated food for my classes on a couple occasions. However, this owner was adamantly opposed to soy and displayed, in his store, the mythical writings from the Weston Price Foundation. He sold and, no doubt, partook of grass fed beef and organic dairy. At some point the cause of his death will be known.
People wonder why thin, active people suddenly die. I can’t say what the case is for this individual, but we know that, even if you’re active and thin, but indulging in the Standard American Diet (SAD), your cells and arteries are adversely affected. Organic or not, cheese and dairy clog arteries and create an inflammatory inner terrain.
On another sad note, I’m going to miss your daily blog. It’s like having a visit with my new friend, Jim. All the best in whatever you do. You’ve made a substantial impact on society, and hats off to you, Mr. Activist!!
“If you score 3Leaf or better on our 4Leaf scale, I doubt very seriously that you will ever be diagnosed with osteoporosis.”
That’s assuming you get enough weight-bearing exercise, right? Without that, I don’t know that eating even an optimal diet will keep your bones strong.