Strontium Ranelate vs Strontium Citrate

Hi Eliot,

Strontium citrate does not cause kidney stones. Not a single study has ever shown that strontium citrate causes venous thromboembolism (VTE) or any blood clots or DRESS syndrome. Only strontium ranelate has been found to produce these adverse effects.

– Monica @ AlgaeCal

Thanks Monica.

Hello Dr. Sickels,

Thank you for taking the time to write in. Yes, a correction should be made to the blog discussing strontium since any form of strontium, stable as well as radioactive strontium, has a higher atomic weight not number. I greatly appreciate your noting this; the correction will be made.

Regarding strontium citrate – I base the assertion that natural forms of strontium do not cause VTE on the very thorough 161-page report published by the Centers for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (Reference: Centers for Disease Control’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Health Effects of Strontium report accessible @ http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ToxProfiles/tp159-c3.pdf ) in which the following statement is made:

“There is no direct evidence that strontium is toxic to humans, but there is suggestive epidemiological evidence that the oral toxicity observed at high doses in juvenile laboratory animals may pertain to humans under special circumstances. At low exposure levels, ingestion of stable strontium poses no harm to organisms with access to adequate calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D. At higher exposure levels, especially under conditions of inadequate calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D, stable strontium will interfere with normal bone development, causing ‘strontium rickets’ of variable severity.”

No reports of VTE induced by strontium had ever been made until strontium ranelate was created, patented and prescribed – and no reports – not even one case report –of strontium citrate causing VTE have been made to date, despite many individuals having used this natural form of stable strontium. No reports of strontium citrate ever causing nephritis, much less kidney stones, have been made either. The adverse effect of nephritis has been seen only with strontium ranelate.

You are correct in that no large scale studies have been conducted using strontium citrate. The reason for this is that such studies are extremely expensive, and natural compounds cannot be patented, so no financial incentive exists to conduct such trials. However, it is my educated opinion that if strontium citrate had ever caused VTE or nephritis or had even been suspected of possibly contributing to VTE or nephritis in even one individual, a case report would have been published and discussed in many journals, and media coverage would have been extensive. Not a single report of strontium citrate causing VTE or nephritis has been made. Applying your logic, that we should therefore say there is no data, we would have to say about any substance, e.g., aspirin, for which no data has ever been published indicating that it causes VTE or kidney stones that we’re just not sure as we have no data. This is logically correct, but practically of little use.

Regarding reported side effects of strontium citrate, I have heard from 2 individuals who informed me that they developed an itchy rash shortly after beginning to take strontium citrate. The rash quickly went away when they stopped taking it. Each of us is unique, so even if many hundreds of thousands of people have used something, and no reactions have been seen, it is always advisable to carefully monitor the response of your body to any medication or natural supplement and to discontinue use if you suspect an adverse reaction. Given the potential bone-building benefits to be derived from the use of strontium citrate, and its excellent safety record, however, I would not hesitate to recommend a trial use of this supplement.

Hi Pamela,

Strontium citrate does not contain sodium, which is the type of salt you must avoid: sodium chloride. You need to avoid sodium because it promotes fluid retention, and fluid retention in the inner ear contributes to the vertigo experienced in Meniere’s disease.
Strontium citrate is a mineral salt, but not a sodium-containing mineral salt.

The term “mineral salt” refers to the stable forms in which all minerals – whether strontium, calcium, magnesium, sodium, etc. — are found in nature. Minerals are never found alone. Minerals are cations (elements with a positive charge) and must combine with an anion (a compound with a negative charge) to be stable. So, minerals are always found bound to another negatively charged chemical compound, for example, citrate, carbonate, oxide, gluconate, lactate, aspartate – or in the case of table salt, chloride. These combinations of a mineral + one of these compounds are called mineral salts.

When you consume any mineral salt, the mineral element becomes freed from its stabilizing partner during digestion and ionized (made soluble), so the mineral can be absorbed. Some stabilizing partners release more easily from their mineral than others. One that releases quite easily is citrate, which helps ensure that the strontium in strontium citrate is readily released and can be well absorbed from your digestive tract. Plus, citrate promotes a more alkaline pH, an additional beneficial effect when strontium is taken in the form of the mineral salt, strontium citrate.

Neither AlgaeCal Plus nor Strontium Boost contains sodium, nor any other compound that would promote fluid retention, so neither should be a cause of your vertigo. To determine what is causing it, you might want to keep a detailed record of what you are eating and drinking for a few days to see how much sodium (table salt) you are consuming, and you may be surprised to discover you are ingesting far more than you realized. Many processed foods – canned foods, frozen foods, deli meats, snack bars, chips, crackers, even condiments like ketchup, etc – contain surprisingly large amounts of sodium.

I very much hope this helps and please do keep me posted on what you discover,
Lara @ AlgaeCal

Hi Marlyn,

We’re glad you reached out! When taking the bone building dosage of 680 mg strontium citrate correctly (with adequate calcium supplementation, such as AlgaeCal Plus), it’s not necessary to have follow up testing to assess your strontium levels.

In this article, Lara Pizzorno reviews the most recent research on strontium that supports its safety and effectiveness! We also have a recently completely 7-year long trial including AlgaeCal Plus and Strontium Boost that showed no side effects along with consistent and linear increases in bone mineral density all the way up to 7 years.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email [email protected] or give our Bone Health Consultants a call at 1-800-820-0184!

– Jenna @ AlgaeCal

Great question, Holly! Unlike strontium ranelate which is a prescription medication, strontium citrate is completely natural and clinically supported to have no side effects. You can learn more about the forms of strontium here.

Give us a call at 1-800-820-0184 if you have any questions. 🙂

– Jenna @ AlgaeCal

Glad you reached out, Jennifer!

This is a common misconception associated with strontium and we’re happy to share with you the latest research in an in-depth blog post here (scroll down to Myth #3 to learn more, including links to the supporting studies).

– Jenna @ AlgaeCal

Hi Gwen, thanks for checking in!

We’re so glad to hear that you saw an increase in your last scan – any increase at all is incredible since after the age of 40 we naturally lose about 1% of bone density each year. Both calcium and magnesium are important for bone health, and AlgaeCal Plus provides you with the body’s preferred 2:1 ratio of calcium to magnesium. If you are taking the full dose (4 capsules) of AlgaeCal Plus along with a balanced diet, you wouldn’t need to take any additional calcium or magnesium.

Hope this is helpful, Gwen! If you have any other questions, our Bone Health Consultants are very knowledgeable and more than happy to chat with you. You can reach them at 1-800-820-0184 ?

-Megan @ AlgaeCal

We’re so sorry to hear you experienced this while taking our products, Elaine!

We guarantee our products and definitely want to make sure you are feeling 100%. Have you had a chance to reach out to our Bone Health Consultants yet? They would love to work with you to figure out the cause of what you’re experiencing and support you going forward. If this is something you’re open to, please email [email protected] or call 1-800-820-0184.

We look forward to hearing from you and helping you along your bone health journey, Elaine. ❤️

-Megan @ AlgaeCal

Hi Jill, we’re so sorry to hear you experienced this while taking our products.

We suggest following your doctor’s advice regarding strontium if you have compromised kidney function. Strontium is eliminated by our kidneys, so it may accumulate in patients with chronic kidney disease, as their ability to filter the blood is compromised.

Regarding your digestive issues, our team would love to work with you to figure out what might be going on. If this is something you’re open to, please contact our Bone Health Consultants at [email protected] or 1-800-820-0184 (USA & Canada toll-free). We’re here to support you throughout your bone health journey, Jill! ❤️

-Megan @ AlgaeCal

Hi Ben,

Thanks for reaching out! We’re so sorry to hear that AlgaeCal Plus did not work out for you; however, it’s great you found a supplement that doesn’t disrupt your digestive system.

Absolutely, you can take it with Strontium Boost. That said, please take it at least 2 hours away from each other.

Hope that helps! Let us know if you have any other questions 🙂

– Blaire @ AlgaeCal

Thank you for sharing your concern with us, Jan! I’m happy to address this for you right away!

When it comes to your concerns, you are correct in saying that strontium actually can affect results because strontium atoms are heavier than calcium atoms and therefore can have a slight skew in DEXA scans. Research shows that strontium may overestimate DEXA scan bone results anywhere from 8.5%- 11.2% maximum – depending upon the type of DEXA scan machine used. This means if you were to see an increase of 10% between your before and after DEXA scans, the actual adjusted increase may be around 9% (adjusted 10% less of the overall 10% increase). The bottom line is that strontium would never actually lead to a false increase on a DEXA scan, and if you have any further questions about this, please let us know! As well, THIS page on our website addressed this more thoroughly! 🙂

To confirm, we recommend continuing with the full dosage of Strontium Boost, not only for 3 years, but until you reach the normal bone density in ALL areas measured on your DEXA scan. At this point, you can just take the AlgaeCal Plus for maintenance. You see, AlgaeCal on its own is clinically supported to increase bone density by an average of 1.3% per year. However, we naturally lose around 1% of our bone density per year after the age of 40, and sometimes more depending on other factors like hormonal changes, genetics, lifestyle, etc. AlgaeCal alone is not always able to overcome this accelerated bone loss, which is why we recommend Strontium Boost – because it tripled the rate of bone building in our studies HERE!

I hope this helps, Jan :). If you have any further questions or concerns, please give us a call at 1-800-820-0184 for more information!

– Yoori @ AlgaeCal

Thank you for sharing your concern, Betty! We are not aware of any interactions between bone injections or medications, and both our AlgaeCal Plus and Strontium Boost. Please confirm this with a doctor. HERE is our Doctor Information Sheet for your convenience :). I hope this helps!

– Yoori