Latest / Common Sense Health / Dairy Myths Destroyed: Build Strong Bones Naturally
Transcript
- Stephen Thomas BSc. Hons: Hello, today I'm going to talk about calcium on a dairy free diet and specifically why the idea that you need dairy to have strong healthy bones really doesn't hold up when you look at all of the evidence. Now, this does come up a lot, actually. It's one of the most common concerns people raise when they're thinking of going on a low carb or keto or carnivore diet, or even when they've already started. and someone close to them gets wind of it. Imagine it's you that is next to the person that gets wind of it. Then the conversation usually goes something like this. They'll say, well, where are you getting your calcium? And before you know it, that person asking you is thrusting a pint of milk in your direction with a look of a person who genuinely believes they have just saved your skeleton from quietly dissolving. Well, there's a lot more to it than just taking some dairy. So let's take this apart properly. First of all, calcium. is present in a wide range of foods. It's not just in dairy. Tin fish with the bones left in, for instance. So we've got sardines and salmon. They're brilliant examples and they're a really good, excellent actually, source of calcium. Bone broth, slow cooked cuts, cooked on the bone, eggs and organ meats. They all contribute as well. So even on a completely dairy free diet, you are getting calcium in. And I've come across cases and I've also heard from doctors seeing it in their own clinics. of people reversing osteoporosis, which means basically the thinning and the weakening of the bones ⁓ without any dairy whatsoever, not just maintaining bone health, but actually reversing the damage. And that's a really big deal. But here's where I think it gets particularly interesting. And this is the bit that I think changes how most people think about bone health entirely. What most people think about bones is they just picture them as calcium. Calcium equals bones, bones equal calcium. That's the mental shortcut that everyone's been given. And yes, calcium is absolutely in there. But here is something that absolutely nobody tells you. 40 % of the dry weight of bone is actually protein. Specifically, it's a protein called collagen. Now, collagen is the structural scaffolding of bone. Think of it like this. You reinforced concrete and running through that are steel rods. Now, the rods of the collagen and the concrete yourself is the calcium. If you take the steel rods away, doesn't matter how much concrete you pour in, that whole structure becomes pretty fragile. So if you want to genuinely restore bone health, we have to start with protein as the foundation. And a carnivore keto low carb diet is by its very nature normally a very high protein diet. Now, this isn't just theory. There is a randomized control trial. That's the gold standard of medical research. It's the type of study where people are randomly assigned to groups and followed over time. So the results carry a lot more weight. And it was published in 2002 by researchers Dawson, Hughes and Harris. I'll put a link to the full study in the description so you can read it for yourself. Now their study followed elderly men and postmenopausal women. That's basically women who have been through the menopause. So they followed the men and the women over a three year period. And what they found was that higher protein intake was associated with less bone loss and in some participants, actual reversal of bone mineral density decline. And this was through nutritional intervention alone, no surgery, not pharmaceutical drugs. It was just food and specifically adequate protein intake. That is a remarkable finding and it does deserve to get far more attention than it gets now. There's another layer to this as well, and it connects directly to the calcium question. Now, for years, there was a theory that high protein diets actually leached calcium out of bones. The idea being that protein made the blood more acidic and the body would pull calcium from the bone to neutralize that acidity. And then it would flush out in the urine. Many people think that sounds plausible. I don't. But when researchers actually measured what was happening to the urine and the urinary calcium, ⁓ That's basically how much calcium people were excreting. In people eating higher protein diets, they found the opposite. Urinary calcium actually goes down, meaning the body is holding on to more. More of it, basically. So protein appears to enhance the absorption of calcium in the gut and improve how well it gets incorporated into bone. So the two nutrients, protein and calcium, work with each other, not against each other. So a high protein carnivore diet isn't stealing your calcium. may actually be helping you use it more efficiently. There is one more nutrient I want to mention because it is genuinely underappreciated and it ties the whole picture together and that's vitamin K2. And I will be clear this is different from vitamin K1, you know the one that you find in in leafy green veg. K2 has a specific job. It acts like a postal address system for calcium. It activates proteins in the body that direct calcium into your bones and into your teeth. And it also activates proteins that actively remove calcium from places it shouldn't be, like the walls of your arteries. And one of the key proteins it activates is called osteocalcin, which essentially binds calcium into the bone matrix. Without enough K2, calcium can end up in the wrong places. And here's the thing. Vitamin K2 is found almost exclusively in animal foods. grass-fed butter, egg yolks, liver, fatty meats, that sort of thing. So a diet built on animal foods is naturally going to be rich in the very nutrient that tells calcium where to go. We all want to tell calcium where to go. So when you put it all together, the protein providing the collagen scaffold, the improved calcium retention from higher protein intake, the vitamin K2 directing calcium into bone, a well-formulated keto, low carb or carnivore diet, even a completely dairy free one. creates a genuinely favorable environment for bone health. And better in many cases than the standard dietary advice that centers on calcium supplementation whilst largely ignoring protein. Now if you're having a DEXA scan, which is the standard bone density test, or having your blood markers assessed, it is really worth knowing that interpretation of the results in the context of the way you're eating is absolutely crucial. The standard reference ranges are built around people eating very different diets and some markers that might look unusual on paper can actually be quite benign or even positive in the context of this way of eating. example, a mildly elevated alkaline phosphatase, a marker often flagged in bone related blood panels, can actually indicate active bone formation, which is a good thing, especially if you're trying to rebuild bone mineral density. I do also want to mention that in my online community, the Common Sense Carnivore Community online, there are people who have been through this themselves, real people with real success stories around their bone health and osteoporosis and much more. So if you're looking for reassurance or just want to hear from others who have walked this path and come out the other side in better shape, those stories are there and they are pretty inspiring, I think. I'll put a link in the description to the community as well. My wife reversed her osteoporosis, so I've seen it firsthand as well. As always, if you found this useful, please share it with someone who needs to hear it, especially if they're having that person waving a glass of milk at them. You can find more of this kind of content over also on my website at the UK carnivore dot com. And I'm also obviously here on YouTube. You can also see me on Spotify. So. That's it really. If you'd like to book me directly, can book a consultation at UKCarnivoreCoach.com. Well, until next time, keep it simple, keep it animal based. And remember, your bones are made of steak as much as they are of calcium. So take care. Thank you for listening. And if you enjoyed it, do consider like sharing and subscribing. I'll see you on the next one.