Bottom Line/HEALTH: Dr. Holly, a lot of people get prescribed either hormones or Fosamax for bone strengthening in later years, but both of those are dangerous. What are things that people can do in a far safer manner?

Holly Lucille, ND, RN: Yeah, they definitely can be. When we think about bone health, there are a couple different things to consider. Your skeletal system is like your muscle system; if you push against resistance, it’s going to want to grow back stronger. So good resistance exercise – even if it’s with your own body weight – is extremely important. Your spine, your legs, your arms. We need to feel that resistance so it builds back stronger. So resistance exercise is number one.

Number two, is that a lot of people say calcium, magnesium, D – sure, those things are important as nutrients. But bone is a living matrix. There are 15 different minerals, and I think actually osteopenia, osteoporosis is more a matrix deficiency. There’s nothing for calcium to hang onto. In our conventionally farmed soils, we are deficient in a lot of those trace minerals that are so important.

So making sure that you have a complex, perhaps bone support supplement. Vanadium, chromium, boron – those things are important to find in there as well. Vitamin K2. Try calcium phosphate. You might’ve heard the slogan “calcium without phosphorus is preposterous,” because we need that to drive it into the bone, not anywhere else in our body.

So proper supplementation, resistant exercise is really the first tier of treatment when it comes to osteopenia or osteoporosis.

Bottom Line: Are there general bone supplements, multi-bone supplement? Or will a multivitamin be able to do that trick?

 Dr. Lucille: I actually think we want to target it more for the bones. There’s a couple of gentlemen, Dr. Alan Gaby and Jonathan Wright, lead osteoporosis researchers, who actually formulated one of my favorites, the OsteoPrime Plus. It’s very comprehensive and it allows you to get all of those elements that are alive in bone to really protect and ensure proper bone health.

Bottom Line: And as always, I always ask about diet. How about any dietary things that someone should be sure to do?

Dr. Lucille: First of all, the foods to avoid. Any food sensitivities that you know of. Definitely decrease your refined carbohydrates. Decrease alcohol. Make sure that you’re increasing your foods that I say are high on your ANDI score. What’s that? Aggregate nutrient density index. Kale, King Kale, is on the top at 1,000. So making sure that you’re getting plant-strong and, therefore, nutrient dense.

Bottom Line: How about carbonated beverages? Those actually leech calcium, no?

Dr. Lucille: They can, especially the ones that come in a can. I think cola is involved. Soda water sometimes, not much of a problem. But definitely diet sodas and carbonated sodas, you absolutely want to stay away from them.

Bottom Line: All right. Thank you, Dr. Holly Lucille.