Impaired Digestion, Microbial Overgrowth--Contributors to Osteoporosis

When most doctors talk to their patients about osteoporosis one of the first things they ask about is calcium intake. "Do you drink milk?" "Are you taking calcium supplements?" When I see patients with bone loss, one of the first things we talk about is their digestive system. The reason being that no matter how much calcium an individual consumes, if his or her digestive tract is unhealthy they won't have optimal, or even adequate, absorption. In addition, an unhealthy gut is a cauldron of inflammatory agents that can reek havoc, not only within the gut, but also by leaking into the body.

In my book, The Whole-Body Approach to Osteoporosis, I devote a whole chapter to the digestive system. I explain how impaired digestion and dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) can lead to intestinal hyperpermeability (leaky gut), a common contributor to many disease processes including osteoporosis. This is one of the most important subjects you can read about if you want to improve your health.

Recently, I came across a great website for a company called Syontix that looks to have great prebiotic and probiotic products for correcting gut dysbiosis and promoting digestive and overall health. Ray Medina is the founder of Syontix and he writes a great blog. If you have questions about dysbiosis and want to know why gut health is important, check out Ray's blog. He doesn't talk specifically about osteoporosis but his web site is loaded with important information that is VERY applicable to improving skeletal health.