Vitamin C Actively Protects Against Osteoporosis: Study

Osteoporosis that can strike at any age is known as the "silent disease" because the bone is lost with no signs.  According to the 2011 statistics of The NIH Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases, more than 40 million people in the United States either already have osteoporosis or are at the high risk due to thelow bone mass. The victims of Osteoporosis are always suggested a healthy diet with enough calcium and Vitamin D.

In addition to this, a latest study has shown for the first time in an animal model that vitamin C actively protects against osteoporosis. This study was conducted by the researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

"This study has profound public health implications, and is well worth exploring for its therapeutic potential in people," said lead researcher Mone Zaidi, MD, Professor of Medicine (Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, and of Structural and Chemical Biology, and Director of the Mount Sinai Bone Program.

"The medical world has known for some time that low amounts of vitamin C can cause scurvy and brittle bones, and that higher vitamin C intake is associated with higher bone mass in humans, "said Dr. Zaidi. "What this study shows is that large doses of vitamin C, when ingested orally by mice, actively stimulate bone formation to protect the skeleton. It does this by inducing osteoblasts, or premature bone cells, to differentiate into mature, mineralizing specialty cells."

For this study the researchers had worked on group of mice whose ovaries had been removed. This was done in order to reduce the bone density. This group was later compared to the control mice that had "sham" operations (in which all the operations employed in a surgical technique are imitated with the exception of the experimental) where they left the ovaries intact.

The mice with ovariectomies were divided into two groups. In which one group was given large doses of vitamin C over eight weeks. The scientists measured the bone mineral density in the lumbar spine, femur, and tibia bones.

The researchers noticed that the group that received an ovariectomy with lack of Vitamin C had a much lower bone mineral density (BMD) when compared to the control group. But the group of mice who received an ovariectomy along with large doses of Vitamin C prevented BMD loss in this group.

"Further research may discover that dietary supplements may help prevent osteoporosis in humans," said Dr. Zaidi. "If so, the findings could be ultimately useful to developing nations where osteoporosis is prevalent and standard medications are sparse and expensive."

The findings of this study are published in the Oct. 8 online edition of PLoS ONE.