The Vitamin D Osteoporosis Connection

There is a very clear Vitamin D Osteoporosis relationship.

Low vitamin D levels are a primary factor in the existence of and progression of osteoporosis.

Low Vit D isn't the only factor.  Like every other function in the human body, multiple factors are at play.

But one reason that osteoporosis is such a prevalent health issue in the western world is because, despite research-backed evidence and common sense (and medical knowledge of how the body functions), western medicine has up to this point, pretty much ignored Vitamin D and focused solely on Calcium supplementation (and estrogen replacement therapy.)

Vitamin D Osteoporosis
One Helps Prevent The Other

Osteoporosis is physical mechanism that develops for certain reasons.  There is really no mystery as to the how or why.

If your doctor hasn't reversed your bone density loss yet, it's time to find another doctor.

The simple version is, if the body doesn't have certain specific factors, then bone density begins to become less dense.

Vitamin D is one of those factors.

The Quick Version Of How Bone Density Loss Happens

1. The body keeps blood calcium levels constant.
2. If there's not enough available calcium, the body pulls calcium from the bones.

We generally get enough Calcium from our diets, even the Standard American Diet (SAD).  But without Vitamin D and other nutrients, the body can't utilize that calcium.  So no matter how much Calcium we supplement with, and the US has the highest Calcium supplementation rates in the world, we still have the highest incidence of osteoporosis.

When we adequately supplement with Vitamin D3 (not D2) we can begin to utilize more of the calcium we take in.  And then:

1. The body will have more usable calcium to use
2. The body can take less or none from the bones and bones weaken slower, or stay where they're at, or get stronger as/if Calcium is put back into the bones.

The Quick Version Of How Osteoporosis Gets Reversed

1. When we get the nutrition we need
2. The body can use the calcium it takes in
3. The body uses calcium for everything it uses calcium for
4. The body puts extra calcium back into the bones

Its pretty simple really.

Weight bearing and resistive exercise play a role as well. The body needs to feel certain forces on bones to trigger them to become stronger.

But without Vitamin D, calcium can't get back into the bones.

And when calcium can't get back into bone, that's osteoporosis development.

For low vitamin d osteoporosis symptoms, see:  Signs And Symptoms Of Osteoporosis

Vitamin D Osteoporosis
Vit D Is The Miracle Cure?

Vitamin D is not a miracle cure.

It's more like oxygen.  If you want to live, you have to breath.

If you want strong bones, you have to get your Vitamin D level up.

It's not rocket science, and it's not medical mystery.

It's the basics of how the body works.

Anytime there is low Vitamin D osteoporosis progression is a threat.

You need to supplement with Vit D because your body works better on all levels when it has a optimal Vitamin D level.  

Vitamin D is really a hormone that is the base of your body operation. It is necessary for:

• Immune system function
• Nervous system (including brain) function
• Muscle function
• Hormone function
• The utilization of Calcium

Exercises To Prevent Osteoporosis are also important.  If the ONLY thing you did was to get your Vit D level up, that would help improve things.

But Osteoporosis is not a single factor issue.  If you want to reverse osteoporosis completely and/or faster, you need to cover your bases.

Vit D is not a miracle cure, it's an important part of an osteoporosis cure.

Vitamin D is not a miracle cure, but even a minimal dose is very effective

There are a LOT of studies out there on Vitamin D and osteoporosis.  And they say that Vitamin D is not helpful or minimally helpful.  

But when one investigates one sees that the amounts of Vit D the studies used was SO SMALL, that of course there weren't good results.  Bad studies produce bad results.

Having said that, one study found that  "A vitamin D dose of 700 to 800 units per day reduced the relative risk of hip fracture by 26% and any nonvertebral fracture by 23%".

This shows that even a minimal daily dose (Just a bit more than the bare minimum to prevent Rickets) reduced osteoporosis-related fracture by 25%.

A 25% reduction JUST from a minimal dosage amount.

Vitamin D Osteoporosis
Where Do I Get Vit D?

Where do we get our Vitamin D?  

Mostly, we don't.  Most everybody in the western world has low to deficient vitamin D levels.  And in Middle East areas of the world where long robes and burkas are worn, Vitamin D deficiency is rampant.

How crazy is it to live in a sunny place and have low or deficient Vitamin D levels!  When you increase the level of vitamin d osteoporosis can start to reverse.  Vit D supplementation is cheap, but the sun is free.

You do not get Vitamin D from food

Well, you do, but it's so little that it's basically not worth considering.

Historically far northern populations would get their Vit D from food, but that ate foods, and amounts of that food, that nobody in the now western world does.

How much seal blubber do you eat?   'None' is a safe bet.

Don't look to food as a source of Vitamin D.

Sunshine is where we used to get our Vitamin D

But nowadays, even beachgoers in Hawaii have been studied and shown to have low vitamin D levels.

Why?

• sunscreen
• showering with soap which strips the oily layer from your skin where the Vit D preproduction happens
• low magnesium (required for Vit D utilization)
• North of San Francisco to Boston between October to April, we can't get vitamin D from being in sunshine due to the angle of the sun.

For the rest of the population the last several decades, doctors have wrongly malaigned the sun as cancer-causing and dangerous.  So even on beautiful sunny days people walk around in long sleeve shirts and wide brimmed hats AND wear sunscreen to 'protect' themselves from the sun.

The human body is designed to produce and store Vitamin D in the summer and pull from the reserves in winter.  Obviously that's not necessary in places like Florida and more southern areas.

If we don't 'fill up' during summer or any other time, then there are no reserves to draw from.  We're just low on what is needed, and the body can't operate optimally.

So while you can and should get your Vitamin D from exposure to the sun, the vast majority of people don't, and lots of people can't due to their geographical location.

So for most people, supplementation is where it's at

Supplementing with Vitamin D is a cheap, easy, and effective solution.

Get what you need, get your levels up, and let your body do what it wants to do, which is to have strong bones full of calcium.

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