Vinegar & Osteoporsis

What is the relationship between white vinegar and osteoporosis you might ask?

Well, a few weeks ago I read on a web board that not all calcium supplements are created equal. If the pills don’t break down, your body will not absorb the calcium.

The woman who wrote the post was being treated for osteoporosis. She was told that a cheap way to test a calcium supplement is to put the calcium pill into a glass of white vinegar for 20 minutes. White vinegar has a similar pH as the inside of a human stomach. If the pill is not at least partially dissolved, your supplement is likely to be ineffective.

I put my wonderful all natural calcium citrate ( reputed to be the most absorbable form of supplemental calcium ) pill, perfectly balanced with magnesium and vitamin D2 into a glass of white vinegar.

Twenty minutes later the pill was still intact. Ouch.

Believing what you read on the internet, especially web boards, is similar to believing what you read in those newspapers in the check out line at the super market.

Is this test really meaningful?

I asked the registered dietitians at the The Vegetarian Resource Group in Baltimore Maryland. They emailed me this response:

There is a group, the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) which is an official public standards-setting authority for all prescription and over-the counter medicines. They have a standard test that measures how well calcium supplements dissolve. Scientists have compared the USP’s method to the method you describe using white vinegar and found that the results were comparable. In other words, if a calcium supplement doesn’t dissolve well in white vinegar, it raises a concern that the supplement won’t dissolve well in your stomach. Hope this helps.
Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Nutrition Advisor, The Vegetarian Resource Group

That is the bad news.

The good news is that a quick web search shows that it is easy to buy calcium citrate powder. Pill crushers can also be bought in most drug stores for under $10, so you can make use out of any supplements you already have.

Update:
I got this response from Jack Norris, vegan RD:
http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=1014

Homemade Ginger Ale

This tutorial will teach you how to make ginger ale.

Doing so is ridiculously easy and cheap. It only contains grated ginger, lemon juice, sugar, yeast and water. THAT’S IT!. I spent about 4 min grating the 2 tablespoons of ginger needed, then I just loaded everything into the bottle and let it sit overnight.

Very tasty and off the grid taste.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baker’s yeast
  • 2 tablespoons grated ginger
  • juice of 1 lemon

Preparation:

  1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.
  2. Put all of the ingredients into a 2 liter soda bottle.
  3. Fill the bottle with cold water, leaving the top inch of the bottle unfilled.
  4. Store the bottle in a warm place for 48 hours

Facebook == The New Blow Off ?

I’ve gotten more than a few free chuckles from reading Marc F.’s blog Diary of a Disillusioned Dater about his experiences as a single guy dating in New York City.

Marc F. writes well and he has a rapier wit for turning nasty dating experiences into hilarious stories.

So, have you ever been “FaceBooked” when trying to get a date?

If she was blowing him off why did she make sure that he had her last name, especially when he didn’t ask for it?

On the other hand, many people feel awkward when giving someone a polite brush off. They will say things that indicate a level of interest that they do not have.

What do you think?