| osteoporosis FATTY ACID BALANCE MAY MODULATE BONE TURNOVER VIA INFLAMMATION Exciting new research in the field of nutritional science is providing strong evidence that when it comes to protecting your bones from the threat of osteoporosis, your body may depend on a lot more than just "getting more calcium" in your diet. Fatty acids are among the nutrients starting to receive increased clinical attention for the key role they play in influencing dynamics of bone breakdown (resorption). In a recent review article, Dr. Bruce Watkins of the Lipid Chemistry and Molecular Biology Laboratory at Purdue University and his co-authors highlight experimental evidence showing that omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (such as fish oil) can significantly decrease bone turnover rates. Beneficial n-3 fats could work in concert with estrogen to stimulate bone mineral deposits and slow the rate of breakdown, the authors write. Increasing n-3 fat consumption, while decreasing consumption of omega-6 (n-6) fats (like arachidonic acid found in meat and dairy products), also reduces the production of inflammatory mediators (PGE2). PGE2 can set off chain reactions that degrade cartilage and spur heightened activity by osteoclasts, the specialized cells associated with bone tissue breakdown. These mechanisms may explain why n-3 fatty acid therapy has produced positive clinical effects in patients with bone and joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, the authors point out, while also appearing to reduce the risk of developing osteoporosis in other studies. Based on this evidence, creating an optimal dietary ratio of n-6 to n-3 fats offers the most promising potential for treating bone andb inflammatory joint disease in the near future, Dr. Watkins suggested at a recent panel discussion on nutraceutical medicine held at Duke University. One of the challenges is to drastically reduce (by at least half, he suggests) the bloated 20:1 ratio of n-6/n-3 fats that currently comprises the modern Western diet. "If we look at our food supply over the last 100 years, there is now more n-6s than n-3s, not only in fish and vegetables, but also in animal foods because of the way food animals are raised. Today there are fewer n-3s in poultry and swine," Dr. Watkins points out. Other experts on the panel stressed the promising potential of other nutrients that could modulate bone loss via their impact on skeletal biology. These included inulin, frucutooligosaccharides, soy protein, and other substances that could increase calcium absorption in the gut. Such approaches could be vital for battling bone loss, because dietary calcium, by itself, "explains only about 10% of the variability in calcium balance [among individuals and groups]," observes Dr. Robert P. Heaney, a researcher who specializes in calcium regulation and bone density. |
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