Food Business News - February 26, 2013 - 38

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the bone physically deforms a pair of joined
proteins — osteopontin and osteocalcin —
and results in the formation of nanoscale
holes. The holes, which are called dilatational bands, act as a natural defense mechanism, and help to prevent further damage
to the surrounding bone. However, if the
force of the impact is too great or if the
bone is lacking osteopontin, osteocalcin, or
both, the bone will crack and fracture.
The multi-university study funded by the
National Institutes of Health and led by Deepak Vashishth, head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer, is the first
to detail a bone fracture at the level of bone’s
nanostructure. Partnering with Rensselaer
on the study were Villanova
University, the Hospital for
Special Surgery in New
York, and Yale University.
“This study is important
because it implicates, for
the first time, the role of osteocalcin in giving bone the
ability to resist fracture,”
Dr. Vashishth said. “Since
osteocalcin is always the
point of fracture, we believe that strengthening it
could lead to a strengthening of the overall bone.”
With the knowledge of
the role osteocalcin plays in a bone fracture,
new strategies for strengthening the bond between osteocalin and osteopontin may be investigated, said Dr. Vashishth. Supplementing
the body’s natural supply of osteocalcin, for
example, may be one strategy for preventing
or treating osteoporosis and other conditions
leading to increased fracture risk, he said.
Osteocalcin must be in its carboxylated
form to get absorbed into bone, and the
protein is carboxylated by vitamin K, Dr.
Vashishth said. He said future studies may
investigate the relation between vitamin K
intake, osteocalcin, and bone strength.
“Currently, all of the advice for treating osteoporosis is related to calcium,” he said. “We
believe there’s more to the story than just calcium, and the results of this new study raise
an important question about vitamin K.
“Leafy green vegetables are the best
source of vitamin K — wouldn’t it be great
if eating spinach and broccoli was not only
healthy, but also good for your bones? We
plan to investigate this link in the future.”
Results of the study, titled “Dilatational
band formation in bone,” were published
on-line in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. The study may be
viewed by visiting www.pnas.org.

Calcium supplements, men and C.V.D. risk
A high intake of supplemental calcium
appears to be associated with an increased
risk of cardiovascular disease (C.V.D.)
death in men but not in women in a study of

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more 388,000 participants between the ages
of 50 and 71 years, according to a report
published on-line first by JAMA Internal
Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.
Calcium supplementation has become
widely used, especially among the elderly
population, because of its proposed bone
health benefits. However, beyond calcium’s
established role in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis, its health effect on
non-skeletal outcomes, including cardiovascular health, remains largely unknown
and has become “increasingly contentious,”
according to the authors of the study.
Qian Xiao, Ph.D., of the National Cancer
Institute, Bethesda, Md., and colleagues examined whether the intake
of dietary and supplemental calcium was associated
with mortality from total
C.V.D., heart disease and
cerebrovascular diseases.
The study participants
were from the National
Institutes of Health-AARP
Diet and Health Study in
six states and two metropolitan areas from 1995
through 1996.
During an average 12
years of follow-up, 7,904
C.V.D. deaths in men and
3,874 C.V.D. deaths in women were identified and supplements containing calcium
were used by 51% of the men and 70% of the
women. Compared with non-supplement
users, men with an intake of supplemental
calcium of more than 1,000 mg per day had
an increased risk of total C.V.D. death, more
specifically with heart disease. For women,
supplemental calcium intake was not associated with C.V.D. death, heart disease death
or cerebrovascular disease death.
Dietary calcium intake was not associated with C.V.D. death in men or women.
“Whether there is a sex difference in the
cardiovascular effect of calcium supplement
warrants further investigation,” the authors
wrote in the study. “Given the extensive use of
calcium supplement in the population, it is of
great importance to assess the effect of supplemental calcium use beyond bone health.”
In a related commentary published with
the National Cancer Institute study, Susanna
C. Larsson, Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet,
Stockholm, Sweden, wrote, “More large studies are needed to further assess the potential
health risks or benefits of calcium supplement use on C.V.D. morbidity and mortality.
“Meanwhile, a safe alternative to calcium
supplements is to consume calcium-rich
foods, such as low-fat dairy foods, beans
and green leafy vegetables, which contain
not only calcium but also a cocktail of essential minerals and vitamins.” FBN
— Keith Nunes
knunes@sosland.com

February 26, 2013

http://www.wendaingredients.com http://www.pnas.org

Food Business News - February 26, 2013

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