Dear Friends,
Imagine you’re a coffee lover and told to cut back or give it up completely because of your bone health struggles. That can be tough to hear.
The concern with coffee and bone health is caffeine. As you may know, a single 8oz cup of coffee usually contains around 100mg of caffeine.
In this letter, we’re going to outline how caffeine can interfere with your body’s ability to absorb and retain some of the calcium you eat, or take from supplements, and how this may affect bone health over time.
One of the ways caffeine interferes with calcium absorption is by affecting vitamin D, which helps your body absorb calcium.
Specifically, caffeine interferes with vitamin D’s ability to bind to receptors, which can disrupt vitamin D’s role in supporting calcium absorption.
Caffeine Can Increase Calcium Excreted in Urine
In addition, caffeine can increase how much calcium the kidneys eliminate in urine. In general, the more caffeine you drink or ingest, the more calcium that will end up excreted in urine.
A study published in 2021 by Australian researchers demonstrated this effect and found that ingesting a large dose of caffeine – 800mg over 6 hours – resulted in a 77% increase in the amount of calcium in urine.
This result may sound alarming, and the finding received a good amount of publicity. But a few comments for perspective...
First, 800mg is a lot of caffeine (equivalent to about 8 cups of coffee).
Hopefully you’re not drinking that much in a day – let alone a 6-hour period. Not only may that be bad for bones, but it can impede sleep quality and negatively impact other body functions like cardiovascular health.
Also noteworthy, the caffeine in this study was ingested by chewing gum, not by drinking coffee. In coffee, the caffeine is surrounded by many other nutrients like polyphenols and flavonoids, and there’s good chance the caffeine will be metabolized differently in your body compared to caffeine added to a chewing gum.
Plus, the caffeine in chewing gum is likely to be absorbed a little differently chewing it in your mouth compared to drinking it.
So I’m not sure this study is completely analogous to drinking coffee, and as mentioned 800mg of caffeine is a whopping amount, but the research does confirm what other work has found – which is greater caffeine intake, will result in more caffeine being excreted in urine.
Do You Really Need to Give Up Coffee to Protect Bone Health?
You may be thinking… “this really stinks, I love my morning coffee, I hate to give it up.”
We know caffeine can result in less calcium being retained in the body, but will this have a meaningful impact on your bone density and bone health over time?
Frankly, the findings of research that has tried to answer this question is all over the place.
Some studies found that, yes, coffee consumption can have a negative effect on bone health over time, but there’s a fair number of studies that found there was no significant effect - or the results were inconclusive.
What’s more, there’s even a couple of studies that found modest coffee consumption – 1 or 2 cups a day – may even be beneficial for bone health.
Last, other research suggested that a single cup of coffee, may only increase calcium in urine by around 5mg or 6mg, a relatively modest amount given the recommended daily intake of 1,200mg.
However, if you’re not ingesting enough calcium each day, even this small amount compounds the effects of that shortfall.
Other Dietary Factors to Consider
As you try to figure out what’s the right answer for you regarding coffee drinking, we suggest you take a broader, more holistic view of what else you’re doing.
For example, is your morning coffee or tea the only caffeine you’re getting? Or are you drinking caffeinated sodas or energy drinks also?
Soda contains a lot of stuff that is bad for bones beyond caffeine - soda would be something I’d seek to eliminate first.
Are you watching your salt intake? Salt, especially table salt, can be worse for calcium absorption and retention in the body than caffeine.
Another challenge for calcium absorption are compounds in certain foods called phytates or phytic acid.
This is why we recommend taking our TrueOsteo+ or TrueOsteo bone supplements after meals that aren’t high in phytates, when possible.
Some food types that are relatively high in phytates are legumes (e.g. beans) and nuts and seeds. Unrefined grains and tuber vegetables (potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots) also contain phytic acid.
The phytic acid content in these foods can be reduced when they are cooked, pickled or fermented.
As you can see, there are numerous dietary factors that affect calcium absorption and bone health, beyond your morning coffee.
If in addition to your coffee, you’re drinking soda, eating a lot of salt, and foods with phytates – then yes, you’re making it very challenging on your body to maintain strong bones.
Choose Plant Based Calcium in a Bone Supplement
Most supplements contain calcium from rocks, not plants, which is why they typically only help you slow down bone density loss. This is better than nothing, but still not good enough.
With the plant calcium, magnesium and other supporting nutrients in our TrueOsteo+ and TrueOsteo products, you may be able to actually increase bone density, not just slow down its loss. That’s a big difference.
We also now know that our bodies need much more than calcium and magnesium to maintain strong, healthy bones.
This is why TrueOsteo+ and TrueOsteo also contain plant-based vitamin D3, vitamin K2, and silica (which provides silicon). Many of us struggle to get enough of these nutrients from diet alone.
The “+” in TrueOsteo+ is for the added stress support you get from ashwagandha, which helps keep cortisol in a healthy range. Elevated cortisol can damage bones and disrupt healthy bone formation.
With a balanced approach, including mindful caffeine consumption and a focus on nutrient-rich foods, you can support your bone health without sacrificing your favorite morning coffee.
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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