Hello and

I'm your host Monica Reinagel

I'm so glad to have you with us

for this week's conversation which is about protein and bone health.

Eli writes,

Ever since my wife heard your episode on the benefits of protein from preventing muscle loss as you get older,

she's been eating more eggs, meat, and fish, especially at breakfast and lunch.

But doesn't a high protein diet weaken your bones?

Do we have to choose between strong muscles and strong bones

once we get past middle age?

Actually, Eli, it's just the opposite.

Protein contributes to strong muscles and strong bones.

The concern about protein and bone health might stem from the fact that when you increase your protein intake,

especially from animal sources, the amount of calcium in your urine goes up.

And the assumption has always been that this urinary calcium was being

taken from the bones in order to buffer the acid residue that remains after you

digest meat and other animal products. And I talked a little bit about that whole

acid buffering thing in my episode on pH balancing diets. Now obviously if

something you are eating is regularly causing the calcium to leach out of your bones

and into the toilet over time this is going to be very bad news for your bones.

However, this is not at all what is happening here. As I've talked

about in previous episodes, only a fraction of the calcium from the foods that you

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