The Bone-Building Drug You Normally Throw Away

In response to an email regarding the treatment of osteoporosis suggesting home-made EGG-SHELL CALCIUM supplements, the blogger’s "Great Sifu" Dr JB Lim wrote as follows:

From: lim juboo

Date: Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 1:30 AM

Thanks! It sounds very logical, except just to tell you excessive calcium intake over and above your physiological needs may lead to renal calculi (kidney stones), and may increase your risk of cardiovascular events, stroke and heart attacks.

On the other hand, moderate increase in calcium intake as shown in regions with hard water, the incidence of cardiovascular risk is much lower. It is the opposite effect.
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My mother used to tell me as a small child not to swallow egg shell, because if I do, I may not be able to pass urine, and it would be painful.

I suppose that's traditional wisdom to mean renal stones and calcium deposits in the kidneys and bladder blocking the flow of urine. But she has no clue why?

Also just to add, osteoporosis is not entirely caused by a lack of calcium. The calcium is already there in the bones. The problem is that the body is unable to retain the calcium in the bones due to hormonal imbalance, particularly the androgenic hormones. These hormones are actually male hormones (testosterone), but are also secreted by females from the ovaries but in much smaller amounts.

Because of these much smaller amounts in females even in child-bearing and menstrual age, the problem becomes worse at postmenopausal stage. That is why women are more prone to calcium leaching out from their bones at old age when their testosterone levels fall so low, compare to males who still retain a significant amounts because of their much higher secretion of this (male) hormone.

Osteoporosis is just the leaching out of calcium from the bones due to hormonal imbalance of old age. It is just a case of de-mineralization, greater in women then in males as I have already explained. So giving calcium supplementation alone to women with osteoporosis is not going to solve the problems, and is also not advisable, physiologically, nutritionally, and medically.

In fact it may add to the problem too much calcium in the blood (hypercalcemia). This may increase the risk of calcium deposits in the kidneys which are trying to throw off the excess. We also need also to look at the levels of parathyroid hormones that regulates calcium metabolism.

The problem is not easy as that - just to eat egg shell, or drink milk as natural medicines to this disorder.

Both milk and egg shells contain not just calcium, but a host of other trace minerals. In fact milk would be far better than egg shell, because milk contains a range of B-group of vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, panthothenic acid, folic acid, B12...etc, all of which are water soluble vitamins and these are not present in egg shells because of the shell's hard and water insoluble nature. There is nothing like milk which is a complete food like whole eggs (not just the shell).

In women, lower levels of testosterone secreted by the ovaries at old age will not be able to support bone density and the onset of osteoporosis.

There is nothing like weight-bearing exercise. This elicits a natural physiological response to make the bones stronger due to the impact of pressure and stress on the body. As simple as that, rather than those complicated and harmful drugs, and hormonal replacement therapies that increases a women’s chance of breast and ovarian cancers, especially using oestrogens as HRT (hormone replacement therapy).

Alternatively, in lieu of weight-bearing exercise, go to another world like Jupiter where the gravity is much stronger, and the body needs much, much stronger bones to support the crushing effects of Jupiter on the body. Gravity can make the bones extremely strong and dense. Of course this is not possible to go to another world. So the only alternative is to exercise on Earth.

Yet another alternative is to use the Chinese herb called Dong Quai. Now you can understand why Chinese women like to consume dong quai even till old age, and they hardly have osteoporosis after menopause unlike Caucasian women.

The Chinese women may not understand the chemistry, biochemistry or the pharmacology why dong quai works till ripe old age, but they understand the wisdom of ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine of over 4,000 years.

That is the difference between a Western scientific doctor or scientist who knows too much about drugs and nothing, but diseases continue to raze on without care or a cure. But a Chinese physician knows classical wisdom of balancing the body through thousands of years of observation. That’s the great difference.

Take good care of your health with wisdom, and not with nutritional supplements or with drugs (the worse).

lim ju boo

BSc (Physiology, Chem and Pharmacology), Post-grad. Dip Nutrition

MSc MD PhD (Med) FRSM FRSPH
Special Medical and Science Adviser

The DNG Pharmaceutical International Group