Probiotic Supplement Increases Bone Density

Men…you’re in luck. Male mice in the lab at Michigan State University (MSU) have shown a significant increase in bone density after four weeks of treatment with a natural probiotic supplement. Female mice weren’t so lucky, say the researchers, who have published their work in the Journal of Cellular Physiology.

“We know that inflammation in the gut can cause bone loss, though it’s unclear exactly why, ” said lead author Laura McCabe, a professor in MSU’s departments of Physiology and Radiology in the February 14, 2013 news release. “The neat thing we found is that a probiotic can enhance bone density.”

“Through food fermentation, we’ve been eating bacteria that we classify as probiotics for thousands of years, ” said co-author Robert Britton, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. “There’s evidence that this bacterium as a species has co-evolved with humans. It’s indigenous to our intestinal tracts and is something that, if missing, might cause problems.”

The team is hopeful that the new study could point the way toward osteoporosis drugs that don’t have side effects, especially for people who lose bone density from an early age because of another chronic condition.

“People tend to think of osteoporosis as just affecting postmenopausal women, but what they don’t realize is that it can occur with other conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease and Type 1 diabetes, ” she said. “You don’t want to put your child on medications that reduce bone remodeling for the rest of their life, so something natural could be useful for long-term treatment of bone loss that begins at childhood.”

Asked about the results, Dr. McCabe told OTW, “It makes sense that a woman’s intestine could be different from a man’s. Perhaps a woman’s digestive system already provides protection from some types of insults/inflammation. This may be attributed to female hormones such as estrogen. Our team is looking at how probiotics can influence bone density in female mice that don’t have estrogen, similar to post-menopausal women.”