Effect of Dietary Taurine and Arginine Supplementation on Bone Mineral Density in Growing Female Rats - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 321

Table 31.8 Spine BMD and BMC of rats fed experimental diets at 9 weeks
Variables Control Arg Tau Arg + Tau

SBMD (g/cm 2 ) 0.156 ± 0.007 1, a, 2 0.157 ± 0.012 a 0.162 ± 0.007 a 0.159 ± 0.004 a

SBMD (g/cm 2 )/Wt (kg) 0.517 ± 0.025 a 0.524 ± 0.021 a 0.532 ± 0.021 a 0.521 ± 0.033 a

SBMC (g) 0.519 ± 0.049 a 0.550 ± 0.071 a 0.563 ± 0.041 a 0.539 ± 0.048 a

SBMC (g)/Wt (kg) 1.757 ± 0.072 a 1.831 ± 0.168 a 1.841 ± 0.048 a 1.733 ± 0.107 a

1 Mean ± SD
2 Values with different superscripts within the row are significantly different at p < 0.05 by Duncan's
multiple range test

(earlier in females) but does not peak until age 25-30, at some point in mid-life
(Heaney et al. 2000 ). Body weight relationships were statistically significant
between the BMC of the femoral neck (Wheatley 2005 ) . The taurine-supplemented
group had higher spine BMC than did the un-supplemented group (0.563 ± 0.041 g
compared with 0.519 ± 0.049 g). We also analyzed our results after correcting for
body weight, because weight can affect mechanical factors such as increased load-
ing associated with changes to bone tissue, and increased weight can encourage
mineralization and alter bone microarchitecture (Frost 2000 ) .
In the Arg group, spine BMC increased by 6.0%, femur BMD increased by
2.6%, and femur BMC increased by 5.2% and these differences were significantly
different from those in the control group ( p < 0.05). But spine BMD of the Arg
group was similar to that of the control group. After feeding of taurine supplemen-
tation for 9 weeks, serum calcium and phosphorus concentrations tended to
decrease slightly. Compared with the control group, the Tau group significantly
increased the FBMD at 9 weeks after taurine supplementation. Compared with the
control group, the Arg + Tau group increased the FBMD ( p < 0.05) (Table 31.9 ).
Despite a slightly greater FBMD of the Arg and Arg + Tau group, this increase of
FBMD tended to increase the amount of FBMC from the Arg + Tau group
(Table 31.9 ). The femur BMC, expressed per body weight, was lower in the rats
fed control diet than in the supplemented groups. The femur BMC when expressed
as kilogram per body weight was significantly greater in the Arg + Tau group than
in the Arg- or Tau-supplemented groups. The results of the current investigation
confirm data reported previously indicating that bone mass is increased in rats
receiving long-term Arg or Tau. Compared with control group, rats given Tau sup-
plementation group had higher values for both femur and femur per weight BMC,
as suggested previously by Choi and DiMarco ( 2009 ) .
Taurine is a potent antioxidant and prevents tissue injury as a result of antioxi-
dation (Wong et al. 2009 ). No serious side effects were found with taurine sup-
plementation in study by Nakaya et al. ( 2000 ) nor in the studies by Azuma et al.
( 1992 ) and Takahashi et al. ( 1998 ). Even though a small amount of taurine is
synthesized in liver in humans (Garcia and Stipanuk 1992 ) the main source of
taurine is from ingestion of foods of animal origin (Yu et al. 1998 ) . Also meat
intake has been positively associated with incidence and mortality of chronic
diseases, including heart disease (Micha et al. 2010 ) and osteoporosis. Excess