Sugar Creates Mineral Imbalances in Our Body

Sugar and the Bones
         To some extent, we all are familiar with the concept of minerals being essential for the proper functioning of our body. But, are we aware that to enjoy health, minerals need to be in the proper balance? That anything different will cause disease? 

         Let us take as an example the calcium-phosphorus ratio. Although the right balance of these two minerals is essential at any stage of life, it becomes imperative during the childhood and teenager years as children need to build healthy bones. Unfortunately, this required balance is many times upset by the high intake of sugar, whether in the form or refined sugar or refined carbohydrates. 

The importance of a calcium-phosphorus balance
          Dr. Melvin A. Page, DDS (1894-1983), appalled by the numerous cases of patients who showed dental cavities and jaw bone loses, started his investigations at Mercy Hospital and Hackley Hospital in Muskegon. After running hundreds of tests, he noticed that no cavities and no loss of jaw bones occurred when the tests showed the blood calcium to phosphorus ratio in a proportion of 10 to 4. Dr. Page also found that the blood sugar level should be at 85, plus or minus 5. By restoring the 2.5 ratio of calcium to phosphorus and sugar level, the jaw bone loss and formation of cavities began to stop.  

Sugar causes mineral imbalances
          Through further investigation he also discovered that sugar caused both calcium and phosphorus either to increase or to decrease. When calcium increased, phosphorus decreased, and when the level of calcium decreased, the level of phosphorus increase. Although we may think that an increase in calcium favors strong bones, nothing further from reality; this excess calcium cannot be used by our body as it is not in the right balance with phosphorus. To the contrary, excess calcium can become toxic to our organs. Only when Doctor Page took his patients off sugar and put them on a diet based on whole foods, their dental problems started to disappear as well as many other health problems. 

          Dr. Page’s idea that diet and nutrition could cause a biochemical condition affecting the teeth, and the fact that he dared to suggest that patients should change their eating habits and eliminate white sugar and white flour from their diet was beyond acceptability. He was ostracized by his professional colleagues for his approach so he temporarily terminated his research in blood chemistry at the hospital and continue it in Florida¹. 

1. Dr. Page was a member of the Academy 100 of the State of Florida, of the New York Academy of Science, and the International Society for Comprehensive Medicine. He was a life member of the American Dental Association and a Fellow of the International College of Applied Nutrition and of the Royal Society of Health (England).  He published numerous articles on his work in nutrition in such periodicals as the Journal of the American Dental Association, Applied Nutrition, the Western Society of Periodontology, Nutrition and Health, Prosthodontics, the Dental Digest and Prevention Magazine.

Have a wonderful day.

Emilia Klapp, BS, RD
www.MediterraneanDietfortheHeart