Not Just a Man's World

Always check your references

Back in February, when writing about acid-base balance, I blithely said that if acid load is too high in the diet then the body will try to rectify the balance.  One of the methods the body uses, known as hypercalciuria, is to leach calcium from the bones which then neutralises the acid in the body.

Do we need plenty of greens for healthy bone density?

I was partly relying on something I had read elsewhere which had said that ancient Inuit, who have minimal access to leafy greens and get the majority of the food from animal meats and fats, have lower bone density due to the high acid load of their diets.  This is widely referenced as being evidence to support hypercalciuria.

I was therefore very interested in a series of posts that started on 16 February on Primal Wisdom.  Don took the time to read the original study of ancient Inuit bones that Cordain referenced when claiming that a high acid-load diet results in poor bone density and found that the study does not actually support this.  At the time he used this as a reminder to all of us to always ensure we go back to our original sources, rather than relying on heresay, and I felt duly told off!

Cordain was made aware of this blog post and sent Don a series of additional studies which do seem, in part, to provide better evidence and support for the idea that the Inuit high acid-load diet causes early-onset loss of bone mineral density.  Don worked through these articles and wrote a series of posts about them, reaching some particularly useful conclusions in Part V on 11 March.

Read it yourself

If you are interested in the issue of osteoporosis, bone density, diet composition or acid-base balance then I recommend reading the series of posts so far by following these links:

• Eskimo Osteoporosis?
• Paleo Diet pH and Eskimo Health – Part I
• Paleo Diet pH: Does it matter? – Part II
• Paleo Diet pH: Does it matter? – Part III
• Paleo Diet pH IV: Weston Price on pH
• Paleo Diet pH: Does it matter? – Part V
• Paleo Diet pH: Does it matter? – Part VI
• Paleo Diet pH: Does it matter? – Part VII

At the end of March he was still going so it’s probably worth keeping an eye on the blog if these subjects interest you.

A new bone density study

If you are interested in the issue of bone density, then you may also be interested to know that in a recent study published in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, comparing experienced rock climbers and resistance trained men and women, the resistance trained individuals had greater overall bone density but arm and leg bone quality was similar in both groups. 

That makes me feel better about missing the odd training session in the summer to go rock climbing then!

Related posts:

1. Blog-watch: recent bone density research
2. Acid-base balance
3. Blog-watch: weight loss mind-games
4. Blog-watch: interaction of diet and exercise with the menstrual cycle – part one