By Jonathan Evans
Herbal Information Specialist for the Herbarium
This month’s column was prompted by a question about bone loss medications from a reader. If osteopenia or osteoporosis is a concern – or you know someone struggling with this condition – I invite you to consider the information below.
Dear Jonathan,
I got my bone density results back and I have osteopenia. The doctor has given me a prescription for Fosamax, but the warnings worry me. Is there any other way to build my bones? Thank you.
– Veronica
Dear Veronica,
Thank you for your question and for giving me the opportunity to help you and so many others with the same question. This is something we deal with daily at the Herbarium.
The trouble with treatments
Fosamax, Actonel and Boniva are all bisphosphonates, the same classification of chemicals as the “scrubbing bubbles” you use in the bathtub to remove soap and mildew. They have become the mainstay of in the treatment of osteoporosis.
The problems with these treatments are twofold:
1. They come with a long list of side effects including inflammation and ulceration of the esophagus, painful swallowing, stomach pain, indigestion and nausea.
2. They suppress the activities of osteoclasts, the cells that dissolve old or injured bone cells, and they seem to work. “They halt bone breakdown by perhaps 90 percent, but they halt bone formation by that much”, said Susan Brown PhD, director of the Osteoporosis Education Project. Did you follow that statement? The stuff stops you from getting rid of old bone cells, but that also means you do not make new, healthy living bone cells.
Other problems have arisen with these treatments over the years. I have written several times about reports of “rare cases” of osteonecrosis, the infection and death of bone tissue in the jaw. In 2010, reports surfaced of “rare cases” of spontaneous fractures of the femur! Just how do we define “rare”?
The best story about using these drugs that claim to cure osteoporosis comes from Genentech, makers of Boniva. I have copies of a declaration published in PARADE magazine, dated Oct. 6, 2011. If it wasn’t so sad it would be funny.
The declaration reads: “You may have seen our ad about Boniva… that may have given you the wrong impression …. Our ad stated that after one year on Boniva, 9 out of 10 women stopped and reversed their bone loss. The FDA has found there is not enough evidence to support this statement and wants us to clear up any misunderstanding you may have had about these ads … Boniva has not been proven to stop or reverse in 9 out of 10 women and is NOT a cure for postmenopausal osteoporosis.”
This is a direct quote from the published statement. What is there to misunderstand? They got caught and had to come clean.
All the information I have written is backed up by fact. I have copies of all of this information; just send a self addressed, stamped envelope to Herbarium, 264 Exchange St. Chicopee, MA 01013.
What can help
Now, what has been shown to help with osteopenia and osteoporosis is a balance of calcium (not carbonate) and magnesium.
Veronica, in a direct answer to your questions, the usual amount recommended is a 1-to-1 ratio of calcium and magnesium, if you can tolerate it. Too much magnesium can cause the runs. Because we have a very calcium rich and magnesium poor diet, it is suggested you get as much magnesium as you can tolerate as too much calcium flushes the magnesium from the system (Lawrence Resnick MD, professor of medicine at Cornell Medical Center). We have had clients using a mineral formula that had more magnesium than calcium and they stopped and reversed bone loss.
If you go to the website www.nutritionalmagnesium.org you can get great information on the importance of magnesium. Also check out www.vitamindcouncil.org for the critical need for vitamin D, but with the magnesium. Yes, magnesium helps with the absorption of calcium (not carbonate) and activates the vitamin D.
Lastly I am sure you are wondering why I am stressing the avoidance of calcium carbonate. Simple. It is chalk, it is Tums, it is an antacid, which neutralizes the little stomach acid most postmenopausal women have. Quick – a seventh- grade science question : If you were going to dissolve a chicken bone, would you use acid or water? If you answered acid, congratulations!
Patients are also told to watch out for too much calcium because there is evidence to show it contributes to hardening of the arteries and kidney stones.
Perhaps if the right calcium, balanced with magnesium, had been tried, we would not be in the situation we find ourselves in…
– Jonathan
Please send your questions on botanical remedies to Natures Rx: Jonathan Evans via email at herbarium258@gmail.com, or by regular mail to: The Herbarium, 264 Exchange St., Chicopee, Mass. 01013. If requesting additional information from Evans, please include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
