This is a wonderful, current review of a problem that is seriously under appreciated by most. This lack of appreciation is largely related to the fact that osteoporosis happens so late in life. Most people are not aware that more women die from hip fractures than breast cancers.

I had started writing a self-published e-book on osteoporosis this past summer, but then I received a contract from Putnam to write a mass market book that will be out on April 28, 2003, so my free time was consumed with that project. I hope to finish the osteoporosis book next year, but in the meantime here is a section from what has already been finished:

Vegetables help to preserve your bones, and may help fight the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.

As referenced in my book, a university study showed that herbs and vegetables can improve your bone metabolism. Researchers found that rats that ate common herbs and vegetables, such as onion, parsley and salad greens, had significantly less bone loss than rats not on the special diet.

A number of vegetables and vegetable mixtures, such as a daily 500 mg each of onion and Italian parsley, and 100 mg each of a mixture of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, arrugula, onion, garlic, wild garlic, common parsley, Italian parsley and dill, produced significant effects on the rate of bone loss.

Interestingly, soybeans and milk powder -- foods thought to help slow the process of osteoporosis -- had no effect on the rats' rate of bone resorption. Another recent study also showed a major link between vegetable and fruit intake for increased bone density but no such effect for dairy products.

As researchers suggested as far back as 1968, the minerals in your bone serve as a buffer against all the acid foods you eat. After a lifetime of buffering the acid load from eating diets that are full of grains, this leads to gradual loss of minerals in the bones and secondary bone loss. It was suggested that:

"The therapy of osteoporosis may lie in its prevention...it might be worthwhile to consider decreasing the rate of bone attrition by the use of a diet favoring 'alkaline ash.' This type of diet would emphasize the ingestion of vegetables, fruits and protein."

Two nutrients that may have the necessary buffering effects are potassium and magnesium. They are found in a variety of whole, unrefined foods, including vegetables and fruits. Diets high in vegetables and fruits produce a more alkaline urine by contributing a variety of compounds that accept hydrogen ions during their metabolism.

These researchers showed almost 40 years ago that there is a significant and important link between bone density and consumption of potassium and magnesium in the form of vegetables and fruits.

There are theoretical reasons to expect a link between bone and potassium and magnesium. For instance, metabolic balance studies have shown that potassium helps your kidney retain calcium, whereas low potassium intake leads to increasing losses of calcium in your urine.

But the bottom line is, it is important to increase your consumption of vegetables if you have low bone density. One of the best ways to do that and normalize high body acid levels would be with vegetable juice. Vegetable juice is also high in vitamin K (phylloquinone) that will actually cement the calcium into your bone matrix.