メディエイゴ

A diet supplemented with(1) powdered dried plum restored bone lost by mice(2) during the course of(3) normal aging(4), in a study led by a researcher(5) at the San Francisco VA(6) Medical Center.

“This may be the first natural product(7) we have identified that is capable of restoring bone that’s been lost due to(8) aging,” says principal investigator(9) Bernard P. Halloran, PhD(10), a senior research scientist(11) at SFVAMC(12) and an adjunct professor(13) of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

“As we age, we all lose bone, and over half of all people age 50 and older develop osteoporosis(14), a disease where the bone becomes weak and easily fractures(15),” explains Halloran. “Many will suffer painful hip(16) and spine(17) fractures. Current medications(18), for the most part(19), can only slow the rate of bone loss(20). We do not have an easy-to-use(21) drug today that can put back bone that’s been already lost.”

Halloran’s study, which appears online(22) in The Journal of Nutrition(23), was inspired by previous animal studies indicating that powdered dried plum might be effective in preventing post-menopausal(24) osteoporosis.

The researchers, including senior author(25) Brenda Smith, PhD, of Oklahoma State University, looked at a cohort(26) of normal adult laboratory(27) mice, with an age equivalent to(28) that of middle-aged(29) people, and a cohort of elderly mice, with an age equivalent to people aged 60 to 70. Each age cohort was divided into three groups. One group was fed a diet supplement(30) of 25 percent dried plum by weight, another group was fed a diet of 15 percent dried plum by weight, and the third group was given no supplement.