HOLISTIC HEALTH

That may seem like a strange bit of advice. Even if we had an inclination to munch on gravel, our teeth couldn't handle it. Rocks are, ironically, a good source of minerals. When they lie on the bottom of a river bed, with the water rushing over them and banging them together, minute amounts of minerals are released into the water. When we pull that water out of the river and drink it, we receive the nutritional benefits from the stones.

But we often do not get our water out of a rushing stream. Our water comes from other sources and is purified to remove the minerals before they turn our toilet tanks yellow. So we are missing a vital source of nutrition.

That may be one reason so many of us struggle with osteoporosis or other symptoms of mineral deficiency. To step into this void, we are encouraged to load up on calcium, but because healthy bones are constructed from twenty-six nutrients, just stoking in calcium will not build healthy bones. And the imbalance of minerals may contribute to other health problems.

Why did I introduce this subject with a discussion of rocks? Because calcium carbonate, a common source of calcium in dietary supplements, is limestone. Ground to powder, it is nevertheless difficult for the body to process, especially in the face of high alkaline environment in the stomach (chronic use of antacids?). In fact, calcium carbonate itself alkalinizes the stomach contents, which impairs digestion and absorption of minerals.

We have a new generation of calcium supplements entering the market, and I am happy to receive them. Several years ago, coral calcium hit the market, and although I was at first skeptical about its useability (we would not normally munch on coral either), I was happy to learn that it provides other trace minerals that are needed for bone health.

A new whole-food calcium supplement comes from South American algae. Not only is it rich in calcium, it also provides magnesium, strontium, vanadium, boron, and silica, so the full spectrum of crucial bone-building minerals is present and available in a very bioaccessible form. But what makes this supplement very exciting are the preliminary results of a recently completed trial on AlgaeCal. Bone scans from post-menopausal women who had been taking AlgaeCal for six months revealed an annualized increase in bone density of 2.4 percent. These results are especially impressive considering that most clinical studies using calcium carbonate show only a slowing bone loss and no actual gains in density.

Add lots of cholecalciferol vitamin D and a few other nutrients, and your bones will thank you.

— Ms. Simontac hi is a certified lifestyle educator at the offices of Dr. Alan Gruning in Fort Myers and owner of the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel.