NOTICE: If you recieved a copy of this Osteopenia Update, please accept my apology. The program jammed and I had to resend it so the rest of the subscribers would receive their copy.

NEWSLETTER APRIL 17, 2007

You may find that analogs of Vitamin D may become your treatment for bone loss.

Researchers continue to study Vitamin D and its analogs for the treatments of Osteopenia and Osteoporosis. This month's issue brings you up to date on studies related to two of these Vitamin D analogs.

1. Studies of Vitamin D analog, 2MD began in the late nineties. So far they have been done on rats and the results are very promising. 2MD has restored both trabecular bone and cortical bone. That is good news since restoration of the inner lattice like structure of bone would do much to strengthen bones against fracture.

In 2005 a Journal of Bone Mineral Research article concluded: that 2MD not only restored both trabecular and cortical bone mass but also added bone to the Osteopenic rats by stimulating bone formation on the periosteal surface and decreasing bone resorption on the trabecular surface

A paper published in Osteoporosis International in 2006 concluded that: 2MD shows great promise for the treatment of bone diseases characterized by bone loss, including Osteoporosis.

2MD needs human clinical trials. Of course, if 2MD can not be synthesized and patented, we may find that no one will pay for the human trials since patents are what allow drug companies to earn money. But 2MD research looks very promising.

2. Another Vitamin D analog 1alpha,25-dihydroxy-2beta-(3-hydroxypropoxy)vitamin D3 (ED-71) has been synthesized and is currently under clinical trials.

Japanese scientists conducted a year long double-blind study with patients age 47 – 87 years old who had Osteoporosis. They found that those receiving ED-71 increased bone density from 2.2 – 3.1% in their lumbar spine and their total hip BMD also increased 0.6 – 0.9%.

The article states: These results demonstrate that ED-71 treatment at around 0.75 microg/d can effectively and safely increase lumbar and hip BMD in Osteoporotic patients with vitamin D supplementation.

I promise to continue to scan scientific journals for additional information about 2MD and ED-71 and I shall keep you informed of anything I find. But meantime remember that most researchers advise that we need additional Vitamin D as we age and some of us have a gene that makes it difficult for us to use the Vitamin D we do ingest.

It is worth talking to your doctor about Vitamin D. - the possibility of poor absorption, how much Vitamin D you get in your diet and how much you should be taking as a supplement given your age.

Also, remember that as noted in past issues of this newsletter, Vitamin D3 is the really important form

SPECIAL:

Next month I hope to have information about a new form of calicum that is beginning to raise interest.

Kate