The very lovely Sally Field sweetly advises: "My Doctor said Boniva works with your body to stop & reverse bone loss"...immediately, I'm provoked to some metaphoric projectile-vomiting...

See, when I think of something "working with your body" I visualize a substance enhancing, pumping-up, rebuilding, repairing, or rewiring... you know, generally being positive and Probiotic (for life) with regard to bodily systems functioning as designed.

A good example of the preceding might be how the trace mineral Chromium will help regulate blood sugar by making your insulin "stronger" so you can take LESS pharmaceuticals or avoid Type II Diabetes altogether. Another is how Krill Oil decreases Platelet-stickiness without that pesky bleeding-out-if-you-scratch-yourself characteristic allowed by harmful pharmz.  Avoided pharmz again... hmmm...

Compare this to the Antibiotic (against life) way that the vast majority of the aforementioned Pharmaceuticals work, at best. These block, inhibit, andsuppress to interfere with various systems and pathways... and with some devastating side-effects much of the time!  A classic example here is the insidious chemical mechanism of NSAIDs (aspirin) & Cox-2 Inhibitors like Vioxx.  These block joint pain but at the cost of decreasing your body's ability to repair the cartilage causing the pain in the first place!  Is that a freight you think you should pay?

Stripping away any corporate obfuscation or pecuniary spin, let's look at how these Bisphosphonates work & see if they remotely qualify as "working with your body"!  Too, let's examine more closely how their statement about "reversing bone loss" may be the most evil kind of lie: the lie of the half-truth.

See?  It's an awful "half truth" that Boniva reverses bone loss! Moreover, it prosecutes this half truth in a horrible, conflicted, and unnatural way leaving you with MORE bone, sure... but it is old, brittle, used-up bone.

Unquestionably, these Bisphosphonates (Fosamax, Boniva, etc.) are a poison specifically designed to kill the hard working little Pac-Man cells, called OsteoClasts, which gobble up old, spent, and worn-out bone. This is a healthful activity the exact same way a "Controlled-burn" or the occasional forest fire is healthy for a forest, reader!

See the half truth, if the old bone is not removed, it WILL cause an increase in bone density but the "density" is accomplished with used brittle bone, so ironically, hip fractures will increase a few years down the road.  That's pretty dodgy "density", for my money.

And if that wasn't bad enough, remember what I said about most Pharmz actually working against your body, not WITH it?  Well, because Boniva interferes with the OsteoClast (with a "C") bone-removing activity, it causes a signal to be sent to the little bone-forming guys, the OsteoBlast (with a "B") - toslow the production of new bone... so you make less new bone & more old bone is left behind... gee, how could anything go wrong there?!?

I do agree with Sally that you can't just take a big dose of calcium & Vit.D and expect anything good to happen... really.  This is especially true if you take the default stuff heavily pushed by the "authorities" ahead of the useful stuff - INorganic Salts our doctors & dieticians push, I mean, recommend... CRAP like Calcium CARBONATE, Magnesium OXIDE & the weak Vit.D-2...like in milk, just to start!

FYI - Always use Organic Chelated minerals like Calcium & Magnesium bound to Citrate, Citrate-Malate, Amino-Acid Chelation, Krebs Cycle Chelation, etc. Also use the natural, more powerful Vit.D-3: like from the Sun, Cold-water Fish, quality supplements & raw Egg Yolks (the egg whites must be soft cooked to convert a Biotin-Binding glycoprotein).  This is the stuff that works, remember.

...But yes, unfortunately, even doing the preceding suggestions probably won't completely stop your bone loss... that takes a complete, if achievable, lifestyle change. Along with diet, this includes taking all the things necessary for the Cal./Mag./Vit.D to even have a chance of working in the first place... so take LESS Calcium, actually, but take MORE of the things helping those smaller doses of Calcium taken to actually work as designed!

Things like:

1).. Boron (Citrate, Amino-Acid Chelated) - take 2 or 3mg daily. Very cheap (less than $1 monthly) - Not found in most multi's.

2).. Silica - take Bamboo extract. Very cheap (less than $4 monthly) - Not found in most multi's. As a second choice use Horse-Tail (it is cheaper but Bamboo has 10 times the Silica per volume).

3).. Vit.K - take supplemental K or eat lots of green-leafy veggies. Vit.K is not found in most multi's.

4).. Potassium (Citrate, Amino-Acid Chelated) - with each meal take 297mg (which is three 99mg capsules) for a daily SUPPLEMENTAL total of close to 900mg...it is dirt cheap.

Potassium only comes in 99mg doses because of an antiquated law. This silly 99mg maximum allowed dose found in most multi's & other supplements, is just not enough when you consider a person needs from 2000mg to 2400mg daily. HOWEVER, you can't just take that much as a supplement without running the risk of taking too much.  So, 297mg (3 x 99mg) of supplemental Potassium is a happy medium!  This is the equivalent of one small banana per meal.

5).. Chromium (Polynicotinate) - take 200mcg daily in addition to the amount found in your multi. (most multi's have about 120mcg). Don't confuse with Picolinate...Polynicotinate is the superior form.

6).. Zinc & Copper (Citrate, Amino-Acid Chelated) - take together... take 30 to 50mg of Zinc in addition to the 15mg or so that is in your multi. Take 1 or 2mg of Copper in addition to your multi, but not more than 3mg daily total & NEVER take Copper without taking 10 or 15 times the amount in Zinc. So, if you take 3mg of copper you must take at least 30 or 40mg of Zinc.

Caution: If you have copper pipes you should get tested for copper before taking a Copper supplement. Copper can be toxic if you take too much and/or don't take plenty of Zinc to balance it...but if you take more than 100mg of Zinc daily, it too will become harmful after a while.

7).. 70+ Trace minerals - I like plant-derived Colloidal Minerals with the toxic metals like mercury & aluminum removed.  Remember, we're talking over 70 trace minerals...not the formulas that only have the handful of the "bigger" trace minerals that the MD's say you need.

8).. **MOST IMPORTANT** - Eat more fresh Alkaline-Forming foods like raw veggies & a little whole fruit ...while avoiding the harmful Acid-Forming foods like coffee, Soy, grains, carbonated drinks, TUMS & all processed foods. Eating mostly processed Acid-Forming foods will increase the amount of alkaline minerals, like Calcium, that have to then be leached from your bones.

DO NOT avoid "good" Acid-Forming foods that are raw, whole foods like some berries, such as cranberries, are slightly Acid-Forming.  This means you don't have to go crazy trying to keep track of every acid or alkaline food... it's simple, just eat mostly raw or lightly cooked fresh foods & avoid processed, highly denatured, high-heat, over-cooked foods.

FYI: Lemon & Lime juice are acidic to the tongue but are some of the MOST Alkaline-Forming foods out there.

9).. ***REALLY the MOST IMPORTANT*** - stay away from SUGAR & White Flour...both are highly Acid-Forming foods that cause arterial inflammation & a dozen other bad things. Use Stevia or Xylitol instead of sugar & flour made from Hemp, Sweet Potato or Coconut. Get Gluten, Phytates & Oxalates from wheat, barley & rye out of your life.

REMEMBER - dense, high carb, starchy foods like Yams, rice, potatoes & beans are "REAL" food, that are also Alkaline-Forming...but bread, cereal & pasta is "Fake" processed food that is Acid-Forming & contains the #1 most Gut-troublesome form of protein, Gluten.

FYI : Hi-Gluten rice has NO GLUTEN...in the rice context it just means sticky/starchy.

As for the Calcium & Magnesium:

1.. Take LESS Calcium - big doses are not going to be absorbed & can cause problems like kidney stones. So it is better to take 2 or 3 small divided doses totaling about 800mg or so daily of any organic chelation with food - but NEVER use CARBONATE. Calcium can be taken with magnesium (most brands come together in a Cal/Mag complex) - which is fine but in reality you likely get better absorption if you take them separately.

FYI : Many wrongly think that Cal. & Mag. have to be taken together...no, they both have to be taken within the same 24 hour period. In fact Cal. & Mag. compete with one another for absorption. Which does not mean they can't be taken together...they can, but they must be small divided doses. Not a hugh 1000mg tablet, taken all at once, like NPR's Dr. Zorba Pasture ignorantly recommends.

For example - You could take 500mg of Cal. with supper & then 3 or 4 hours later take 500mg of Mag. and it would work fine. But if you took 500mg of Cal.& 500mg of Mag. at the same time, you would likely be wasting some of each. However if you took 250mg of Cal. & 250mg of Mag. together & then 3 or 4 hours later you took another 250mg of each, then you would be OK...See, small doses.

2.. Take MORE Magnesium - (never Mag. OXIDE) most formulas come at a Cal/Mag Ratio of 2to1 but a 1to1 ratio is better... so take about 800mg to 1000mg of Mag in 2 doses of 400mg to 500mg, with or without food. A good way is take 400mg first thing in the AM or take it mid-morning - then take 400mg to 500mg just before bed. This big dose of Mag at bedtime will help you relax & increase absorption.

Taking big doses of Mag at a 1to1 ratio with Cal is not only better for your bones but will do wonders for your Heart & Blood Pressure. I cannot over emphasize how crucial this is...the currant recommended 100%DV dose of 400mg of Magnesium is bordering on the criminal.

If the big dose of Mag. causes diarrhea...not to worry, just reduce the dose for a few days & then slowly increase the amount as you get used to these bigger doses. Mag OXIDE is particularly bad at inducing diarrhea, so always use Organic chelation.

And Folks, if you really want to relax your heart & blood vessels, take a daily total of about 800mg of Cal. BUT jack that Mag. up to about 1200mg. This might give you slightly loose stools for a week or so but your gut will adjust and you & your heart will profit.

Vitamin D-3 :

Lastly - And likely most important is Vit.D-3. But there is a fine line, when taken supplementally, between getting too much & the optimum right amount. You can safely take about 1000iu of D-3 but that also might not be nearly enough to overcome a deficiency (especially if you're black & live up north). You might actually need 3 or 4 thousand iu's but you CANNOT safely just decide to take those big doses orally w/o running a risk of ODing! 

So I would do one of 3 things - get tested for Vit.D so you can take larger doses if necessary by mouth, (the correct test is 25-hydroxy-Vitamin D test) OR get a mercola light system (I have one, but they are expensive -$1300) or move someplace where the angle of the sun is greater than 45 degrees...(your shadow must be shorter than your height to make D-3).

You can certainly find uVB light systems cheaper than $1300 but please make sure they are safe & that they even produce enough uVB to make Vit.D-3.

If you get lots of sun or light from a uVB Light System it can automatically run your D-3 up many thousands of units if necessary... but then stop just short of being too much...like magic. You cannot OD on D-3 from the sun or a good light system, but you must not burn, ever.

BTW, Dermatologists that say stay out of the sun & to slather on toxic (cancer-causing) sunscreen - should be put in jail. Ask your Dermatologist why there is as much (maybe more) skin cancer in overcast New England than in the sunny south. A lack of Vitamin D from the sun will CAUSE SKIN CANCER & a dozen other ailments.

Lastly, you must do weight-bearing exercise...get 2 small dumbbells and do little mini-curls as you take a brisk walk.

Wow!  The preceding was some heavy lifting, eh?  Still, that's an outline of the required lifestyle change alluded to earlier.  You wanted a chance at healthfully reversing your bone loss, right?

What to say about Sally?  Is she just uninformed or otherwise enthralled with a corporate driven medical mainstream... deluding herself with regard to doing a "good" thing while making a few bucks on the side?  I would certainly hope so, otherwise she is a capering imp with a sociopathic streak aspiring to a full-blown psychopath, grand mal.

I'd prefer to remember her as that fresh faced little girl who wasn't disgracing herself who could touch the tip of her nose with her tongue like I saw her do on Merv Griffin once... but I digress.

Questions?

Alan Graham

<>alan068@centurytel.net

<>http://www.alienview.net/ALLTCON.html

Well be.