1) Strength Train. This is your trump card against osteoporosis, not Fosamax or Boniva or any one of the myriad number of bone strength medications that are out on the market. Studies consistently show that strength training not only maintains levels of bone mineral density, but it is the only non-prescription way to increase bone mineral density. Studies have shown as much as a 2% yearly increase in bone mineral density as a result of strength training (Not impressed? The average for women is a yearly 1-2% loss of bone mineral density). Best of all, it doesn’t require a big time commitment; as little as 30 minutes a week of properly performed strength training is enough to stimulate improvements in BMD.

2) Eat your leafy greens. Quick quiz: what’s the best way to obtain dietary calcium? No, it’s not dairy, but eating cruciferous (leafy green) vegetables. In addition to being nutritional powerhouses that contain abundant amounts of antioxidants, most leafy greens contain calcium and magnesium in proper proportions for optimal assimilation.

3) Don’t skim the dairy. It seems like a day doesn’t pass without some government organization telling women to take in enough servings of dairy “for strong bones.” They are encouraged to eat low-fat cheeses and yogurt, and drink low-fat or skim milk. Without the saturated fat in whole milk, however, the body cannot assimilate the calcium or the protein in the milk. Whoops. Remember everyone - saturated fat will not kill you via heart disease, and whole milk will not make you fat (I may have to post on that later).

4) Avoid cola drinks. I’m going to refer you to my prior post on this subject for this one.

5) Move around from time to time. Much of the exercise orthodoxy’s advice is inaccurate, but this time they’ve got it right. By staying active, your bones are stimulated to retain the bone mineral density it’s already got. In many different movement activities, there is enough stimulation to the bones via impact forces and gravity to effectively stem the loss of bone tissue. Hey, it isn’t as good for you as strength training, but it definitely helps, and in lieu of strength training, “staying active” is a fine and viable alternative. Most of the time, it’s even fun and enjoyable.

I’ve been trying. Really, I have.

If you ascribe to Peter Lynch’s theory that says you should buy shares in companies that you are familiar with or whose products you endorse, then my wife and her family should own massive shares of stock in Coca-Cola. Although they’ve made great progress since the pre-Eugene years, they still drink their fair share.

Actually, their consumption is probably at or slightly less than average for American households. But hopefully the results of a new study will change that for the better. At least for the females in the house.

Published in the October 2006 issue of Clinical Journal of Nutrition, recent results from the Framingham Nutrition Study found that women who regularly drank cola had a greater chance of developing osteoporosis than women who didn’t.

Carbonated Cola Drinks Drop Bone Density in Women.

Kind of a bummer to me, since my wife drinks about the same dosage of cola that was used in the study (5-6 servings per week). She did, however, recently resume her strength training program (thank goodness snowboarding season is nearly upon us), so I haven’t written a requiem for her bone mineral density just yet.

The study presented some extremely interesting findings:

a) Cola consumption had NO significant effect on bone mineral density in men. I hypothesize that this is due to the fact that men generally have: greater body masses, heavier and stronger bones, and propensity toward weight training, which is the only real way to increase bone mineral density.

b) The type of cola (regular, diet, caffeinated vs. non) mattered only slightly. The greatest effect was seen with the regular, caffeinated cola. The effects were less with diet cola and non-caffeinated cola, but there was still a significant effect. It is pretty conclusive that cola isn’t good for your bones.

c) Regular soda had no effect in any group. Sorry Fred, but it ain’t sugar leaching calcium from your bones.

d) The X factor in cola that accelerates osteoporosis? Researchers believe it to be phosphoric acid, which is proposed to leach calcium from the bones to counteract the high levels of phosphorus and the acidity of the fluid. Sounds good to me, although levels of phosphorus in cola is actually less than that of other more commonly consumed foods where you don’t see as much of an effect, like chicken. “Further study is required.”

e) The area most affected by cola consumption? The hip. Bone mineral density in the spine was not significantly affected by the cola. A small blessing.

So let’s take an inventory of cola: it supplies excess calories, it causes insulin levels to skyrocket, and it weakens your bones. If you buy into Traditional Chinese Medicine, cola also completely shuts down digestion.

Let’s agree to switch to a more benign beverage; say, mineral water or some similar non-sugared bubbly. Or, if that’s too much of a paradigm shift, switch to a non-cola soda. At least it won’t make your bones brittle.

I met Steve Maxwell this past weekend; great guy. He and his wife DC run a fitness studio/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school in Philly called Maxercise. Although Steve has moved away from using Superslow as his exercise protocol of choice, I found out he and I share the common professional bond of highly recommending low-carbohydrate diets as the nutrition plan of choice. He is a perfect living example of a high-level athlete who performs well because (some would say in spite) of his reliance on meats and virtual exclusion of grains from his diet. I think he told me the ratio was something like 80% meat, the rest vegetable matter. Oh, and he practices Intermittent Fasting.

It’s certainly working for him. He’s 54 and a freaking powerhouse. He also happens to be a fountain of knowledge and information and a 2-time world champion Black Belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu.

He couldn’t convince me to give up “normal strength training” for kettlebells, tho. Still an awesome guy.