A newer supplement being advertised for building strong bones. To benefit from strontium, you must also have adequate calcium and protein in your diet. Do not be deceived by advertising and think that this wonder supplement will fortify your bones all by itself.
Food and drinking water are the largest sources of exposure to strontium. Because of the nature of strontium, some of it gets into fish, vegetables, and livestock. Grain, leafy vegetables, and dairy products contribute the greatest percentage of dietary strontium to humans. The concentration of strontium in leafy vegetables, such as cabbage, grown in the United States is less than 30 mg in a pound. For most people, the intake of strontium through food will be moderate.
Once strontium enters the bloodstream, it is distributed throughout the body, where it can enter and leave cells quite easily. In the body, strontium behaves very much like calcium. A large portion of the strontium will accumulate in bone. In adults, strontium mostly attaches to the surfaces of bones. In children, whose bones are still growing, strontium may be used by the body to create the hard bone mineral itself.
There are no harmful effects of stable strontium in humans at the levels typically found in the environment. The only chemical form of stable strontium that is very harmful by inhalation is strontium chromate, but this is because of toxic chromium and not strontium itself. Problems with bone growth may occur in children eating or drinking unusually high levels of strontium, especially if the diet is low in calcium and protein. Ordinary strontium salts are not harmful when inhaled or placed on the skin.
Animal studies showed that eating or drinking very large amounts of stable strontium can be lethal, but the public is not likely to encounter such high levels of strontium. In these unusually high amounts, so much strontium was taken into bone instead of calcium that growing bones were weakened.
So, should you run out and buy this supplement? I wouldn’t. I would concentrate on eating more leafy greens, and an overall healthy diet.