Osteoporosis Prevention and Cure: The Missing Link

Osteoporosis is one of those things you just don't mess with, especially for women. In fact, more women die of fractures caused by osteoporosis than from breast cancer, cervical cancer, and uterine cancer combined.

My interest in this elusive disease of the bone has been increasing over the years, as I watch my grandma suffer from it. She has a lot of the characteristic signs of osteoporosis: the hump on her back, relentless aches and pains, and difficulty getting around. Her doctors tell her to take more calcium and have tried her on various prescription drugs designed to reduce bone loss, but to no avail.

Since I will one day be a post-menopausal woman, I decided that I had better figure out how to prevent osteopororis now, while I am still in my thirties. That way, I'll have time to really study the issue and put my findings into practice.

I have always been somewhat of a health nut. I suppose you could blame my mother, since she raised me on carrot juice, cod liver oil, and herbal teas. For that reason, I tend to question mainstream medical treaments, which seem to me to be more about symptom management and financial gain than real cures.

Thus began my search for the answer to osteoporosis and how it is related (or not related) to calcium supplementation. What I found shocked and astounded me. It truly is the missing link to osteoporosis prevention and cure. And I just couldn't keep it to myself.

The secret lies in how hens who eat calcium-depleted diets can lay eggs with calcareous shells. Where does the calcium come from? Silica.

Silica has been shown to be essential to the development of the skeleton and the mineralization of bone in rats, to the point where its absence results in skeletal deformities. In chickens, it is essential for the formation of the skeleton, the comb, and feathers (in addition to hard egg shells).

It is silica that is responsible for the depositing of minerals into the bones (most notably calcium!), speeding up the healing of fractures, and reducing scarring at the site of a fracture.

I could go on and on. The point is, why is calcium given such preferential treatment in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis?

The fact of the matter is, many individuals and population groups consume lower than the recommended amount of calcium without any ill-effect, compared to others who are getting more than enough.

This has been proven in Mexico where in some areas tortillas are regularly made with lime and in others they are not, with no difference in the rates of skeletal growth between the two. Also, in the Kalahari, where calcium is added to the water wells, the development of children is no different than in areas where calcium is not supplemented.

In his book, Silica the Forgotten Nutrient, Klaus Kauffman describes the many benefits of silica supplementation, including the prevention and cure of osteoporosis. He argues that "a better way to prevent and alleviate this crippling disease could be regular supplementation of organic vegetal silica."

Obviously, more research is needed to determine how silica is able to seemingly transmute into calcium.

In the meantime, I am planning to stock up on this amazing mineral so that I can enjoy bone health for many years to come.