I was diagnosed with osteoporosis last year. I had the DEXA scan at the suggestion of an osteopath who thought I might be at risk, due to my small stature. I am a 63 year old woman. I sustained an endplate fracture at L1 a few years ago which was never treated, partly due to Covid and partly to do with the fact that I thought I'd just 'strained' my back badly. I had been trying to do some very inadvisable lifting. I don't necessarily believe that this injury was anything to do with osteoporosis, as I've not broken any other bones, despite tripping over in the park several times when walking our dog. I've sprained ankles and wrists but never broken anything. I was told by my GP that I'm under the threshold for treatment and that I should try to eat more calcium as part of my diet, rather than rely on supplements.
Apologies if some of this post is a repetition of my post from a couple of weeks' ago but I thought the background may be helpful. Back to the calcium - I am doing my best to increase my dietary calcium, whilst trying not to eat too much fat (due to high cholesterol) and trying not to eat too much of anything which aggravates my digestive system (due to IBS). This was covered in my previous post but I'm very curious as to why so many healthcare professionals and 'medical' articles online etc. still recommend increasing the amount of leafy greens, nuts, seeds etc. when research has shown that the amount of bioavailable calcium is extremely low. Obviously there are other dietary benefits to these foods but it doesn't seem that calcium is one of them. I also read an article about a study on calcium fortified milk-substitutes which said that up to 40% of the calcium isn't ingested because it sinks to the bottom of the carton. The study said that shaking the carton didn't make much difference. Again, these are regularly recommended if you can't tolerate too many dairy products. Also they are usually supplemented with calcium carbonate, which I understand is the least digestible form of calcium.
Interested to hear others' thoughts on this. I really want to do the best I can!