Strontium

Question:  I wish you offered a separate strontium product. I notice that you have included strontium in both your bone and joint formulas, but I want to take amounts far greater than what I would get in either of these formulas. Also I’ve read that strontium should be taken separately from calcium and vitamin D, etc. since they interfere with one another’s absorption. I am a 51-year-old, healthconscious woman who does not appear to have appreciable bone loss except for substantial bone loss in my gums due to early orthodonture. The bone loss has been stable for decades, but I’m now preimenopausal, so I want to stay on top of it. At this point I am seeking a way to both build some bone in the jaw and protect my overall bone structure going forward. A few months ago I bought a strontium supplement from another company, but had some weird reactions every time I took it (a sudden feeling of nausea during the day, and in the middle of the night horrible – and I mean horrible – nightmares within an hour or so after popping a supplement). These effects may be coincidental, and I’m inclined to try it one last time. But frankly, I’d prefer to buy strontium from you if you carried it. Thank you and keep up the good work! A. J. – Internet Answer: Thank you for your encouragement! Using strontium in high doses is rarely necessary, and when it is, it should be done under the supervision of a health practitioner. Your negative experience with high-dose strontium is not unusual. It’s very easy to get too much, or to get a poorly formulated supplement that causes problems. We don’t carry a separate strontium product because we don’t want to encourage its use by people who don’t really need it and/or aren’t working with a health practitioner. Our Bone Mineral Formula at four tabs a day should be sufficient for your purposes. A dental practitioner of our acquaintance did an informal test with this formula on her patients using before and after dental x-rays. The x-rays showed that consistent use of our Bone Mineral Formula actually did add bone to teeth. With the amount of strontium used in our formulas, the issues you mention of competition for absorption with vitamin D and calcium are not a problem. Part of the science of supplement formulation is balancing nutrients so that absorption issues are minimized, and that’s what our Bone Mineral Formula and Joint Protection Formula accomplish. Strontium is only a problem vis a vis other nutrients in very large doses. Apart from taking strontium in a good mineral supplement, there are many other factors involved in building healthy bones. See my article on Osteoporosis on the Beyond Health website.