Living a long and healthy life: "Foods to stay away from to keep strong bones"

Food, Vitamins and Nutrition

Maintaining strong healthy bones does not only depend upon eating healthy foods and exercising regularly, it also entails staying away from foods that deplete your calcium reserves.  Contrary to popular beliefs (a direct result of relentless advertising campaigns and misconceptions), foods which were once thought to keep your bones in great shape into advanced age have been identified as main culprits in calcium depletion, while other foods prevent absorption of new supplies.  For more, read below.

Foods That Calcium Reacts With

Livestrong.com, December 20, 2010

A variety of foods react with calcium and inhibit the absorption of this mineral into the body. Food containing oxalates, which are high in protein, sugar and salt, and drinks such as coffee and soda can react unfavorably with calcium.

Foods Containing Oxalates
Rhubarb, spinach, strawberries, chocolate, wheat bran, nuts, beets and tea have been found to contain the highest percentage of oxalates. While they shouldn't necessarily be avoided because of the other valuable nutrients they provide, anyone suffering from kidney stones should look for alternatives.
High Protein Foods
Excesses of protein, especially those in meat, when digested produce acids that must be neutralized by calcium. According to Paul Pitchford's "Healing With Whole Foods," animal protein contains excess phosphorus and sulphur, which deplete calcium absorption.
Excess Sugar and Salt
Excess sodium in the diet leads to excretion of calcium in the urine. Excess sugar not only inhibits calcium absorption but promotes excess bacteria and candida in the body. Pitchford recommends consuming celery, lettuce and chlorophyll, plants rich in silicon (a natural fiber), to help to diffuse buildup of yeast in the body and encourage calcium absorption. Sugar, already shown to be a major contributor to diabetes, also depletes phosphorus, another mineral important in facilitating the absorption of calcium.
Coffee and Soda
Phosphoric acid, present in coffee and soda, is found to lower bone density and deplete calcium and phosphorus. In a study published October 2006 in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" of over 3,000 men and women, results showed that daily consumption of soft drinks lowered bone density. Phosphoric acid is a food additive commonly used in processed foods and in combination with caffeine, a diuretic, and sugar, weakens the intestines and assimilation of important nutrients such as calcium.