The Many Means to Bone Building for Life
New study shows MBP® may help
Many people recognize that osteoporosis, characterized by a serious reduction in bone mineral density, can be best prevented by building bone mass during the teenage years and throughout young adulthood. Bone mass peaks at about age 30 and begins declining at around age 50 or, for women, at the onset of menopause.
Therefore, maximizing bone mass – especially before age 30 – is key to ensuring you’ve got strong bones before the decline begins.
So how do you maximize your bone mass? By making sure you’ve got the right amounts of the right vitamins, minerals and nutrients shown to support healthy bones. These include:
- Calcium. The body uses calcium every day to build healthy bones and teeth. Calcium is found in dairy products, leafy green vegetables and soybeans.
- Magnesium. Magnesium is found in nuts and grains, beans, fish and meats.
- Vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes the body’s absorption of calcium, and is produced by the body only after the skin has been exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D can also be attained by consuming egg yolks, butter, fatty fish, fortified dairy products and grains.
- Vitamin K. Vitamin K helps transport calcium to different parts of the body. Sufficient vitamin K levels can be achieved by eating a diet rich in green, leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and brussels sprouts.
And a Japanese study recently indicated there’s yet another ingredient pertinent to healthy bone maintenance: Milk Basic Protein or MBP®, a functionally active protein complex isolated and purified from milk protein. The study showed MBP to be effective in increasing bone density by promoting bone formation and slowing the rate of bone mass reduction.
The study, conducted by experts at Kagawa Nutrition University, Otsuma Women’s University, Saitama Medical School and the Snow Brand Milk Products Company, all of Japan, supplied 35 healthy young women with either a drink containing 40 mg of MBP (equivalent to almost 3.5 cups of skim milk) or a similar-tasting placebo beverage each day over the course of six months.
Throughout the six-month period, all of the women recorded daily dietary intake and maintained a moderate level of physical activity, and those who consumed the MBP supplement experienced increases in bone mineral density by the promotion of bone formation and inhibition of bone breakdown.
While experts do note that supplementing with 40 mg per day of MBP – or drinking the milk equivalent – would be effective in increasing peak bone mass in the young adult generation, they also say further long-term studies are needed to confirm this relationship.
Other Bone Support ArticlesUSA Today: Adults Still Risk Vitamin D DeficiencyCalcimate Complete Covers all the Bases of Bone BuildingVitamin D: Are you getting enough?Sunlight, Supplementation Prevent Vitamin D DeficiencyVitamin K Joins Calcium in the Fight for Bone Health
