Food Allergies, Bone Health

Dear Dr. Meletis,

I’m allergic to all dairy, egg, almond, peanut, yogurt, wheat, and garlic. I’ve got the beginning of osteoporosis—what calcium supplements would you suggest?

Ms. H.

Dear Ms. H.,

You appear to have some of the most challenging allergies relative to maintaining a healthy diet for optimal calcium intake. Over the last 16 years of clinical practice I have found that Calcium Citrate Malate is by far my favorite, along with Calcium Hydroxyapatite. I routinely have my patients take 500-750 mg of Calcium Hydroxyapatite in the AM and 500-750 mg of Calcium Citrate Malate in the evening prior to going to bed. In addition, I seek to optimize Vitamin D3 levels, as there is strong evidence that many women with osteoporosis have low Vitamin D3 levels. My personal goals for my patients are to have a minimum Vitamin D3 level of 55 for blood serum 25-OH. Your personal physician should be more than pleased to measure your levels, as not only is it helpful for bone health, but also mental health, heart health, and immune competence while being protective of the colon and breast tissues as well for women.

I would also encourage you to read about Strontium at www.vrp.com; 340 mg, 2 times per day over the course of 2 years was reported to improve bone density up to 15 percent over the course of 2 years, according to a 2002 study.

Relative to your food allergies, you may consider using probiotics, such as BioPro™ or Culturelle® and GI Cell Support to see if you can help lessen any possible leaky gut syndrome that may be present. Often after avoiding ones major food sensitivities for 3 to 6 months and working on GI health, retesting can show some improvement on the level of food reactivity. As you probably know, a Food Allergy Test, which tests for sensitivities to 96 different foods, is available here. Of course visiting with your personal healthcare provider is important.

Sincerely,

Chris D. Meletis, ND