Talk to any AMA doctor. Read any magazine or newspaper. I'll bet all the money at the blackjack tables in Las Vegas the sage advice reads: Women, swalloweth those calcium tablets daily to keep your bones healthy and strong. Fifteen hundred milligrams a day will keep the casts away, according to the guidelines issued by the august National Institutes of Health.

In my research, this is the WORST advice anyone, male or female, could receive.

After studying TMA test results since 1991, I can tell you up to 62% of my customers have a calcium utilization disorder. Their bodies cannot absorb the calcium they swallow. For them, swallowing calcium supplements not only wastes their money. It makes them believe they are really doing something to protect their bones, when, it fact, it can hasten the osteoporotic process.

And it can cause your hair to fall out!

How do you know if you have a calcium absorption disorder? My lab can tell you exactly. But if you want to do some free research before sending me greenbacks, answer this question: How much sugar and aspartame do I eat each day?

If you answered the question honestly, you'll have a fairly accurate answer. If your sugar consumption is out of control, you probably have a calcium absorption problem. Yes, my friends, those diet soft drinks and Famous Amos cookies (in my case, chocolate mousse cake and fresh cherry pie) are making us prime candidates for osteoporosis AND hair loss.

Too much sugar, you see, can cause insulin resistance. I'll skip the chemistry class, but here's the result. If you eat too much sugar, your insulin levels become too high in your body. One very bad result of too much insulin: the substance literally robs your bones of their calcium. That's right. It pulls healthy bone material out of your limbs and deposits it in your soft tissues.

And you know what else too much insulin does? It prohibits your bones from absorbing those calcium supplements you're swallowing. Ditto for the calcium in the milk and cheese you're consuming. Since the calcium can't go into your bones, where it is sorely needed, it ends up in your soft tissues, where it can even cause harm.

So, if you take a calcium supplement and wash it down with a diet soft drink, or have a glass of Merlot (my fav) with your meal, forget about any calcium absorption. (I'm picking on soft drinks because aspartame acts just like sugar when it comes to insulin reactions. Saccharin is the only sweetener that is OK).

How do I know this? I see it every day in my work. Calcium levels are the first thing my lab tests in a Tissue Mineral Analysis. Normal levels of calcium are 26 to 46 parts per million. My tissue calcium levels have topped 248. I've seen readings as high as 900.