As we noted earlier, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is considering updating what it will allow as a health claim related to calcium for osteoporosis. If you read that article you'll recall my scepticism about their motivation and intentions. Nevertheless, they are correct in their acceptance of the critical role played by associated nutrients in the absorption and utilization of calcium.

Remember, for the calcium to benefit your bones, it must be ingested (you have to eat or drink it), absorbed (from you gastrointestinal tract into your blood stream) and finally assimilated (taken into the boney tissue where it can be utilized). You must also maintain a required amount of calcium circulating in your blood to meet the needs of cells throughout your body, notably skeletal and cardiac muscle cells. Failure to do so will prevent calcium from being used to build or rebuild bone because when blood levels drop you automatically draw calcium from bone to help ensure adequate cellular function.

Overcoming osteoporosis, whether through prevention or treatment, is rather more complex than most people would like you to believe. The classic illustration of misinformation can be observed in material sourced from the dairy industry. I say classic because their claims are quite false and misleading but have been repeated so often and endorsed by so many incorrect but authoritative sources that they are now believed to be completely true. Let me again state this plainly: considerable evidence indicates that high dairy intake contributes to and may actually cause osteoporosis. It certainly does not prevent, relieve or reverse the condition.

GTC recently commissioned a consumer survey of over 1000 respondents which indicated that 86% ranked a woman's risk of an osteoporotic fracture as less than the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or uterine cancer. The truth is the risk is much greater than all three combined. Given the power of advertising and the widespread fear of cancer it is not surprising to find such erroneous views.

In the US, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, around 55 per cent of over 50s are at risk. That means around 44 million people. Of those, 10 million individuals are estimated to have the disease already and a further 34 million are estimated to have low bone mass. The peak time for building bone density in girls is between ages 12 to 19 years. Studies have reported that as high as 90% of girls in this age group do not even consume enough calcium. Sadly, this means a massive amount of suffering and disability will be with us for a very long time to come.

Ensure your nutrition is sound (and that does not mean consuming dairy) and engage in plenty of full weight-bearing exercise. Remember, sound nutrition can only be achieved by consuming the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones. If you consume lots of dairy, eat few vegetables, drink regular sodas (any carbonated bevereges) and do insufficient exercise then you can be pretty-well assured that osteoporosis is in your future. Look at what millions of people eat and you'll know whay those incidence figures are so large.

Learn more about dealing with osteoporosis on our musculoskeletal page (towards the bottom).