It might be that osteoporosis is less about calcium than trace minerals like copper and zinc.

Osteoporosis is a deterioration of bones resulting from the body's attempt to extract nutrients from them. The assumption is that calcium is the nutrient of concern.

In my experience, it is not supplemental calcium that causes bone pains to diminish but taking copper and zinc. There is a lot of calcium in food, so a shortage does not seem quite as logical as a shortage of trace minerals. Food does not always have much copper or zinc in it. There are other exotic trace minerals also, such as molybdenum, cobalt, boron and manganese.

The question is what minerals is the body trying to extract from bones in creating osteoporosis. It would be the minerals which the body is short of. Even if a trace mineral like zinc is not needed by bones, it could be located in bones, because minerals tend to get stored wherever they happen to be. While circulating with other nutrients, trace minerals are going to end up in bones whether needed by bones or not. So the body might extract trace minerals from bones for use elsewhere in the body.

The general assumption is that once bones deteriorate with osteoporosis, they cannot be built back up by taking calcium. Perhaps if supplemental trace elements were taken, there would be more success.

Taking supplemental iron is not good, because iron in mineral form can be bad for the heart. The best way to get iron is eating red meat or green vegetables.

It is also important to realize that calcium needs two additional factors to be utilized. It needs vitamin C, which acts as a chelating agent, which is sort of like an attachment for picking it up. It also needs vitamin D, which is a carrier molecule for transporting across cell walls. So vitamins C and D need to be adequate when taking calcium.

The same could be true of the trace minerals. They might also need chelating agents and carrier molecules. But scientists have not determined what they might be. It was only through indirect evidence that the relationships between calcium and vitamins C and D became apparent. The trace elements are not as visible, so associating factors would be even harder to detect.

To get trace minerals in food, fruit should in theory be better than vegetables. The reason why is because fruit is grown in rich soils, while vegetables are grown in sterile soils.