CR & Bone Health - An Optimistic Review Article

[Dean Pomerleau]

All,

 

Al posted a new review article [1] which discusses all the available evidence relating calorie restriction, protein restriction, and methionine restriction to bone health. It basically goes over many of the things we've discussed here before - like the fact that DEXA bone scanners aren't well-calibrated for very thin people, and that CRed organisms have lighter bones, but not necessarily bones that are lower in quality, or more fragile. I like the way they summarize in the free full text: 

 

In the pursuit of survival with enhanced growth and development, human beings have come to suffer the negative effects of excessive nutrition.Currently, it may be appropriate to reevaluate the possibility that dietary restriction actually shapes a skeletal system to a size or mass suitable for the organism rather than causes an unfavorable loss of bone mineral. A philosophy of achieving optimal bone quality may be more important than preserving maximal bone size/mass when considering skeletal health under various dietary restrictions.

 

As I said, nothing really new, but it's nice to see all the reassuring evidence suggesting our skeletons aren't crumbling away as a result of CR.

 

--Dean

 

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[1] Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2016 Feb 16. doi: 10.1111/nyas.13004. [Epub ahead of print]

Dietary restrictions, bone density, and bone quality.

Huang TH(1), Ables GP(2).

Author information:
(1)Laboratory of Exercise, Nutrition and Bone Biology, Institute of Physical
Education, Health and Leisure Studies, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan. (2)Orentreich Foundation for the Advancement of Science, Cold
Spring-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Free full text: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nyas.13004/epdf

Caloric restriction (CR), protein restriction (PR), and specific amino acid
restriction (e.g., methionine restriction (MR)) are different dietary
interventions that have been confirmed with regard to their comprehensive
benefits to metabolism and health. Based on bone densitometric measurements,
weight loss induced by dietary restriction is known to be accompanied by reduced
areal bone mineral density, bone mass, and/or bone size, and it is considered
harmful to bone health. However, because of technological advancements in bone
densitometric instruments (e.g., high-resolution X-ray tomography), dietary
restrictions have been found to cause a reduction in bone mass/size rather than
volumetric bone mineral density. Furthermore, when considering bone quality, bone
health consists of diverse indices that cannot be fully represented by
densitometric measurements alone. Indeed, there is evidence that moderate dietary
restrictions do not impair intrinsic bone material properties, despite the
reduction in whole-bone strength because of a smaller bone size. In the present
review, we integrate research evidence from traditional densitometric
measurements, metabolic status assays (e.g., energy metabolism, oxidative
stresses, and inflammatory responses), and biomaterial analyses to provide
revised conclusions regarding the effects of CR, PR, and MR on the skeleton.

© 2016 New York Academy of Sciences.

PMID: 26881697