Postmenopausal osteoporosis is one of the main health problems in aging women. It was due to several factors including oxidative stress, which can be controlled through intake of antioxidants from food sources. Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is one of the natural product rich in antioxidants and has been proven to protect osteoporotic bone. This study was conducted to gain in-depth understanding on virgin coconut oil’s activity on osteoporosis at molecular level. Thirty two female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups, namely Sham operated group, ovariectomized control group (Ovx+Ctrl), ovariectomized with VCO treatment (Ovx+VCO), and ovariectomized with estrogen treatment (Ovx+E). All treatments were administered orally for ten weeks. Bone samples were obtained to examine changes on expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), osteocalcin and runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) genes. The results indicated that rats receiving VCO treatment had experienced significant increments in SOD, GPX and osteocalcin gene expressions compared to the ovariectomized control group, besides the gene expressions of Runx2 which also showed an increment pattern. In conclusion, VCO helps to protect bone in osteoporotic rat model by increasing the expressions of antioxidant genes and genes which increase the osteoblast acitivities.
Keywords: Osteoporosis; ovariectomized rat model; postmenopausal; virgin coconut oil
Penanda kadar pusing ganti tulang (PPT) adalah berguna dalam penilaian status kesihatan tulang. Namun, pengaruh umur, kumpulan etnik dan antropometri badan terhadap aras PPT dalam kalangan lelaki masih belum jelas. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menentukan pengaruh faktor-faktor tersebut terhadap aras PPT, iaitu aras osteokalsin (OC) dan telopeptida terminal-C kolagen jenis 1 (CTX-1) dalam kalangan lelaki Cina dan Melayu berumur 20 tahun dan ke atas (N = 407) di Lembah Klang. Subjek dikumpulkan melalui kaedah persampelan bertujuan. Ketinggian, berat badan dan indeks jisim badan subjek telah diukur. Darah mereka diambil pada waktu pagi untuk analisis aras OC dan CTX-1 serum dengan asai imunoserap terangkai enzim. Hasil kajian menunjukkan aras OC dan CTX-1 adalah lebih tinggi secara signifi kan dalam kalangan lelaki Melayu berbanding dengan lelaki Cina (p < 0.05). Aras OC dan CTX-1 adalah paling tinggi dalam kalangan lelaki berumur 20-29 tahun, dan kemudiannya menurun secara signifi kan berbanding dengan dekad sebelumnya dalam kalangan lelaki berumur 30-39 tahun (p < 0.005). Perbezaan aras kedua-dua PPT ini adalah tidak signifi kan di antara lelaki berusia 30-39 tahun dengan lelaki yang lebih tua (> 40 tahun dan ke atas) (p > 0.005). Aras OC berkorelasi secara signifi kan dan negatif dengan berat dan indeks jisim tubuh subjek dan korelasi ini adalah signifi kan untuk lelaki 20-39 tahun sahaja (p < 0.05). Aras CTX-1 tidak berkorelasi dengan antropometri badan subjek (p > 0.05). Secara kesimpulannya, aras PPT dalam kalangan lelaki di Malaysia boleh dipengaruhi oleh faktor umur, kumpulan etnik dan antropometri badan. Faktor-faktor ini seharusnya diambil kira dalam penilaian status kesihatan tulang lelaki berdasarkan aras PPT.
Ficus carica, a native plant to the Middle East and Western Asia, is of high value in folk medicine. The therapeutic potential
of Ficus carica has led to the extensive studies in recent years, focusing on evaluating and validating its pharmacological
effect. The present systematic review summarizes the effectiveness of Ficus carica on promoting bone health focusing on
osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis via mineral contents and RANKL pathway. The search was done with Medline via
Ebscohost, Scopus and Google Scholar databases to obtain relevant articles published between 1946 and December
2016. The main inclusion criteria were research articles published in English that reported effect of Ficus carica on
bone health. The literature search returned 716 potentially relevant articles, whereby 5 met the inclusion criteria. This
systematic review concludes Ficus carica plays an important role in the promotion of bone health and can be a potential
pharmaceutical product in the future.
Osteoporosis is a progressive disease of the skeleton characterised by bone fragility due to a reduction in bone mass and possibly to alteration in bone architecture that lead to a propensity to fracture with minimum trauma. Most osteoporotic fractures occur at locations rich in trabecular or cancellous bone and usually related to post menopausal women. Recently, silymarin received attention due to its alternative beneficial effect on bone formation. It is a mixture of flavonoids with powerful antioxidant properties. This review focuses on the use of milk thistle or silymarin for the treatment of osteoporosis that may be related to fracture bone. Silymarin shows potent antioxidant herb that may modulate multiple genes in favour of helping to build bone and prevent bone loss. In the mouse fracture healing model, silymarin supplementation improved tibial healing with elevated BMD and serum levels of ALP and osteocalcin. Silymarin also demonstrated clear estrogenic antiosteoporotic effects in bone structure. Silymarin appears to play a crucial role to prevent bone loss and might regulate osteogenesis and may be beneficial for fracture healing. If silymarin is considered for the use of post menopausal women, it may be used for the treatment of osteoporosis. It would be of great benefit to postmenopausal women to develop an oestrogen antagonist that is as potent and efficacious as oestrogen in preventing bone loss without the major side effect associated with HRT.
Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a relatively easy, reliable, and safe method for bone status assessment, but reference data for Asian males remain scarce. Our study aimed to determine the values for one QUS parameter, the speed of sound (SOS) at the calcaneus, in Malaysian Chinese men and to determine the association between the SOS and several demographic characteristics, such as age, weight, height, and body mass index. Three hundred forty-eight Malaysian Chinese men aged 40 yr and older were recruited, and their calcaneal QUS value was determined using the CM-200 densitometer (Furuno Electric, Nishinomiya City, Japan). The results indicated a significant correlation between SOS and age, and multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that age and height were important predictors of SOS. A significant reduction in SOS value was observed when men 60 yr and older were compared with men aged 40-49 yr. Compared with the reference data for Japanese males, Chinese men in Malaysia showed higher SOS values across all the age groups studied. In conclusion, there is an age-related decrease in SOS values in Malaysian Chinese men, and the SOS values established in this study can be used as a reference for future studies.