If you have osteoporosis, you are probably told that you will have it for the rest of your life, and the goal is to avoid breaking bones as much as possible. If you accept this prognosis, then you will slip into the life of someone with a “managed” condition. If you do not accept it, you can reverse the condition, but you will have to understand and implement a substantial list of nutritional, environmental, and lifestyle changes.

The primary reason why osteoporosis is a frustrating condition is because almost everyone in the medical community looks at the bones and asks – What is missing from this bone? The answer is generally agreed upon is that it is - not enough calcium. That generates the common answer that the patient needs to eat more foods that contain calcium and take calcium supplements. This usually helps a little bit, but if you take larger doses, it doesn’t appear to help any more.

The public health officials started digging a little deeper and realized that vitamin D was part of the puzzle. So they started recommending calcium with vitamin D. The results were a little better, but still didn’t reverse the condition. This is about when they declared that osteoporosis was just a part of aging and couldn’t be reversed.

Osteoporosis presents two difficult and challenging questions:

1. Why doesn’t calcium and vitamin D cure osteoporosis?
2. How are bones strengthened? (or - How is osteoporosis cured ?)

Louis Kervran’s biological transmutation equations for building bones

• Magnesium (24) + Oxygen (16) = Calcium (40)
• Potassium (39) + Hydrogen (1) = Calcium (40)
• Silica (28) + Carbon (12) = Calcium (40)

The most fundamental key to understanding how to build bones and recover from osteoporosis/osteopenia is the theory of “Biological Transmutation of Elements” as written down by Louis Kervran.¹ This theory states that an abundance of animals and plants routinely transmute elements. Kervran and his followers state that the process for building bone in humans is either primarily or even exclusively involving transmutation of magnesium, potassium, or silicon into calcium by adding oxygen, hydrogen, or carbon to these elements.

The evidence is indirect and based upon observation of closed system studies. It is not based upon observation of mechanism. This leads to acceptance problems in the scientific arena.

I live in New Mexico, and within a 60 mile radius, I am surrounded by Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. These organizations have gathered one of the largest collections of top-flight PhD physicists in the country. If I was to start asking these physicists if it was possible for the human body to routinely transmute elements, I would probably not just be told “NO.” I would probably have my professional/medical friends and associates notified that I needed to start getting psychiatric care.

In the laboratory, the amount of energy required to transmute elements is so great that the consensus among scientists is that it would likely cause our bodies to either spontaneously combust or to explode. All this tells me is that the elemental transmutation capabilities of plants and animals are much more sophisticated than those of laboratory physicists.

Kervran was not the first to propose that plants and animals are capable of transmuting elements. Many others before him had hinted at this idea or even proposed it publicly. Kervran’s advantage over his predecessors was that he held a prestigious position in French scientific circles, and therefore was not so easily suppressed.

The equations at the beginning of this section describe the combination of two elements to form calcium. The carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen are of little importance because these are available in abundant quantities from multiple sources. The potassium, magnesium, and silicon are the important parts of the equation along with the resulting calcium.

Although Kervran’s theory, as it relates to bone-building, is sometimes stated multiple ways, it comes down to either:

1. The calcium in your bones did NOT enter your mouth as calcium, but instead entered your mouth as potassium, magnesium, or silicon, and was transmuted by your body as part of the bone formation process.
2. You could start out the statement in item #1 with “Almost all of”.

A generic prescription for reversing osteoporosis

Calcium

The major message is that calcium is NOT used to build bones. You do definitely need calcium, and it can impact your bones, but only indirectly. You need calcium to keep your blood and body fluid levels adequate.

One of the most important functions of calcium is to make muscles contract,² and because your heart is a muscle, this makes calcium very important.

The utility of dietary calcium and calcium supplements for preventing/reversing osteoporosis is limited. The observed evidence is that taking calcium supplements helps a little bit, but never cures osteoporosis. Increasing the dose further doesn’t appear to increase the benefit. There’s a reason for this effect.

Because the blood calcium doesn’t actually end up in bone cells, the improvement occurs via the parathyroid glands. Here’s the usual sequence of events:

• A very acid-forming meal is eaten. For example, this might be a double-cheese and pepperoni pizza with a liter of a soft drink.
• Your blood pH will tip towards the acid end of the tolerable range.
• To neutralize your blood pH, your parathyroid glands will release a hormone which tells osteoclasts to break down some bone which releases calcium into your blood.
• This brings the blood pH back to normal.

Unfortunately, the net result is that you just lost some bone. It wasn’t much bone, but if you keep eating meals that are too acid-forming, after a couple of decades, you will have osteoporosis.

Now, let’s go through the same scenario, but with one twist.

• You eat the very same pizza and soft drink, but have a large high-mineral vegetable side-dish, such as steamed broccoli.
• The side-dish decays to an alkaline pH, so the acid-forming effect is neutralized, and the parathyroid glands do not release their hormone.

The CDC/NIH recommendations for calcium intake rise to 1000 mg per day at 4 years old, and stay between 1000 mg and 1300 mg per day for both men and women thereafter.³ I have seen some recommendations for women concerned about osteoporosis of up to 2000 mg per day. These dosages are more a reflection of frustration and lack of understanding of how to prevent osteoporosis than any nutritional need.

An average adult needs about 500 mg / day. You will get some of this from food. For a supplement, consider about 300-400 mg per day.

Magnesium

You can’t afford to underestimate magnesium in bone health. There are many different ways in which magnesium has its’ positive effects.

Magnesium is important for conversion of a Vit D precursor to final form.⁶ Magnesium influences the activities of osteoblasts and osteoclasts.⁷ There is also some magnesium in bones.⁵ The magnesium in bones is important in making hard and strong bones. But most importantly, magnesium is part of one of Kervran’s equations for the transmutation into calcium as part of bone formation.

Two factors are important in choosing a type of magnesium. Magnesium is usually poorly absorbed and magnesium attracts water in the intestinal tract.

Inexpensive magnesium supplements are frequently magnesium oxide. Because this has the poorest absorption rate of all types of magnesium, it is useful to prevent constipation. This is because almost all of it remains in the intestinal tract, which optimizes the drawing of water into the intestines. But, because so little of it is absorbed into the blood, this makes the oxide form a poor choice for someone with osteoporosis.

The glycinate, citrate, threonate, chloride, and taurate are forms of magnesium that are better absorbed, and therefore better choices for bone health.

Magnesium can promote loose stool/diarrhea. Taking multiple small doses per day can be an effective way to prevent this problem. Sometimes the total dose may also need to be reduced. If digestive disturbances still occur, magnesium oil can be substituted for oral magnesium supplements.

Magnesium oil is applied topically and absorbed through the skin, so it has no effect on the digestion. Magnesium “oil” has NO oil content, but it feels like an oil because of its’ very high concentration of magnesium chloride. If you are routinely using magnesium oil, you should not apply it to the same skin area every day. If you do, after a few days, you may experience what feels like a mild sunburn at that location. This is because the chloride ions have irritated the skin. Of course, the remedy is to apply the magnesium oil elsewhere.

Almost everyone in industrialized countries who depends completely upon their food for magnesium is deficient in magnesium.⁸ Therefore almost everyone should supplement it. Recommended dose: Somewhere between 200 and 800 mg per day. Take with a meal that contains some fat, because this will improve absorption. Constipation and muscle cramps are indicators of magnesium deficiency, so if you have either or both of these, you probably want to push closer to the upper end of this range.

Potassium

Potassium (K) is part of Louis Kervran’s second equation involving the creation of calcium through transmutation. Unlike magnesium, many people get sufficient potassium from their food. This is because conventional fertilizer (NPK) is nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium, so potassium is found in most foods. Some people do need to supplement.

Keep in mind that when you supplement potassium to treat osteoporosis, you are not treating a potassium deficiency, you are taking extra potassium that is intended to be transmuted into calcium.

Silicon

Silicon (Si) is part of Louis Kervran’s third equation involving the creation of calcium through transmutation. The best source of silica is horsetail herb – Take at least 500 mg per day, and up to 2 grams (2000 mg) per day. This is a good source of silica and is easily absorbed.

The two potential problems with horsetail are:

1. Since horsetail is a natural diuretic⁹ you need to make sure that you do not allow yourself to become dehydrated, because this would place additional stress on the kidneys. If you are drinking a lot of water, you need to remember to replace your electrolytes.
2. Because horsetail contains an enzyme that degrades Thiamine (vitamin B1),⁹ when you take horsetail, you should also be taking daily doses of B1 or a B-complex.

The importance of both of these points increase as the dosage increases.

Vitamin D3

Vitamin D3 is the most important non-mineral part of the therapeutic formula. The optimal dosage will vary by individual. Almost everybody needs more vitamin D3 in the winter months than in the summer months. If you want to arbitrarily pick a dosage, without experimentation that will probably not cause problems, an average-sized adult might pick 1000 IU/day in the summer, and 1500 IU/day in the winter. Take with a meal that contains fat.

Boron

Boron has no official “essential nutrient” status, and no specific RDA. This is because it is a poorly studied mineral and is present in enough commonly consumed foods that it never got much attention.

However, the limited studies that have been done clearly indicate that boron is a critical nutrient for bones and joints, and is important to prevent arthritis.¹⁰ Boron supplements are commonly 3 mg. Take one or two per day. It is difficult to overdose on boron.

Vitamin K

Theoretically this is found in abundance in leafy green vegetables, but I have seen cases where people with plenty of leafy greens in their diet were still deficient in vitamin K. This is probably an absorption problem.

Vitamin K is necessary for new bone building and blood clotting.¹¹ I have seen people get all stirred up about the differences between K1 and K2 and which is the best one to supplement. My advice is to save yourself a couple weekends of internet research and get a supplement that would provide you with between 100 and 200 mcg of both per day.

Manganese

You will need approximately 5 mg per day. It is valuable for formation of bone and cartilage. If you routinely eat avocados, you won’t need to supplement this.

Forming the collagen matrix

A collagen matrix is required to be used as a framework for the bones. This requires vitamin C, copper, and zinc.

Major dietary factors

As bone ages, it gets old, brittle, and needs to be replaced. A diet that keeps your bones strong is all about building the bones up just as fast as they get torn down. If you already have osteoporosis, it becomes about building them up a bit faster than they are getting torn down. The bone-building and tearing-down cycle is called “remodeling.” Cells called osteoclasts break down old brittle bone, and cells called osteoblasts create new strong bone, frequently in the places where the osteoclasts just broke down bone. The remodeling process can never be stopped (at least not to your advantage), but it can be adjusted to meet your needs.

Acid and alkaline foods

Of course, the rate at which bone is broken down needs to be balanced against the rate at which bone is rebuilt. If the full range of nutrients required to rebuild bone are almost always available in abundance, the rate at which bone breaks down will seldom matter. This, in part relates back to the supplement prescription, but the nutrients required to build bone can also come from food.

High protein diets should be avoided because they contain high amounts of nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous and decay to an acid ash. The acidification of the blood will cause the parathyroid glands to more often release a hormone that breaks down bone.

Foods that decay to an alkaline ash will help you prevent bone loss. These foods are mostly fruits and vegetables. They have average amounts of what a chemist would call metals – calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, copper manganese, chromium, vanadium, molybdenum, boron, selenium, zinc for example. They have no more metals than the high protein foods, but since they are very low in nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus, the effect on blood pH is alkalizing.

Building bones through exercise – The Piezo-Electric Effect

Whenever a crystalline structure is stressed to the point that it is very slightly deformed, it gives off a very weak electric current. In physics terms, this is referred to as piezo-electricity. Your bones are a crystalline structure, and they too will give off this weak electric current when they are stressed. Your body is then alerted that the bone is weak right where the electric current was produced, and responds by building a stronger bone right at that location.¹²

When you go to exercise, remember that the types of exercise that tell your body to build bone are those types of exercises that threaten to break bones. Fortunately, there is a large margin of error, and you don’t need to get very close at all to the amount of mechanical stress that would actually break the bone before your body responds by making the bone stronger. To build bones, think of exercises that are “striking, pounding, twisting, or weight-bearing.” All of these have the potential to subtly deform the crystalline structure of the bone.

For example, instead of lifting a 2 lb weight 100 times, consider lifting a 25 lb weight 8 times. Depending upon your muscle and bone strength, you might also change that to a 50 lb weight 4 times or a 100 lb weight 2 times. In each case, you would be lifting a total of 200 lbs. The lower weight/higher repetitions options are a better cardio-vascular workout. The higher weight/lower repetitions are better for building bone. The key idea here is to get just over the threshold where your bone generates a piezo-electric current.

One additional very important idea is that the piezo-electric current is merely the “instruction” for the body to build a stronger bone at a particular location. Your body can only follow through on this instruction if the nutrients needed to do so are in the blood. So, even the best weight-bearing, striking, twisting, pounding exercises will do no good if your diet/supplements combination leave you devoid of the nutrients required to “follow” this instruction.

You should probably not even do these types of exercises if your bones are very weak. Wait until your bones have improved some, and then use these exercises to keep your bones strong.