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Table 31.9 Femur BMD and BMC of rats fed experimental diets at 9 weeks
Variables
Control
Arg
Tau
Arg + Tau
FBMD (g/cm 2 )
0.196 ± 0.008 1, a, 2
0.201 ± 0.011 ab
0.207 ± 0.008 b
0.200 ± 0.005 ab
FBMD (g/cm 2 )/Wt (kg)
0.653 ± 0.029 a
0.683 ± 0.040 a
0.679 ± 0.028 a
0.657 ± 0.040 a
FBMC (g)
0.425 ± 0.019 a
0.447 ± 0.031 a
0.448 ± 0.033 a
0.455 ± 0.024 a
FBMC (g)/Wt (kg)
1.413 ± 0.060 a
1.472 ± 0.059 ab
1.466 ± 0.060 ab
1.485 ± 0.07 b
1 Mean ± SD
2 Values with different superscripts within the row are significantly different at p < 0.05 by Duncan's
multiple range test
protein intake is risk factors for osteoporosis. So without the increase of meat
intake, supplementation of taurine is the better idea to protect bone. In a previous
study, our rat model also confirmed that supplementation of a taurine diet
increases femur BMC. In a previous publication by our group, it was shown that
a taurine-supplemented diet could significantly increase the femur BMC in grow-
ing male rats (Choi and Seo 2006 ). To improve osteoporosis prevention strate-
gies, a better understanding of nutrition-related risk is needed. Higher animal
protein intakes have been reported to be associated with increased risk of diabe-
tes (Sluijs et al. 2010 ). Of the many factors that affect BMD, nutrition is consid-
ered an important factor (Choi and Jo 2003 ; Kim and Kim 1983 ) . In Western
countries, a sizeable proportion of the population has adopted a vegetarian diet.
According to previous studies in the European Union, the proportion of self-
reported vegetarians in the general population is 5% (Heys and Gardner 1999 ) .
Whether vegetarian diets confer benefit or harm to bone health is a contentious
issue. Ecologic studies found an inverse association between the incidence of hip
fracture and vegetarian protein intake, such that countries with a high intake of
vegetable protein had a lower risk of hip fracture (Newsholme and Leech 1983 ;
Windmueller and Spaeth 1981 ). Whereas some data suggest that a raw vegetarian
diet is associated with lower bone mass (Ho-Pham et al. 2009 ) , other studies
have found no such association (Chung 2001 ; Chen et al. 2003 ; Park et al. 2001 ) .
There was no significant effect of arginine or taurine on urinary ca excretion,
osteocalcin, and spine BMD with appropriate diets. Generally, it is calcium that
is the limiting nutrient in the diets of North America and Asia (Thacher et al.
2006 ). Taurine supplementation has been shown to have a positive effect on bone
in OVX rats with appropriate calcium (Choi and DiMarco 2009 ) . But there was
no positive effects in the ovariectomized rats fed a calcium-deficient diet (Choi
2009 ). Thus the effects of amino acids depend on the content of calcium in the
diet. Level of calcium in diet with taurine or arginine to be studied to bone health
by virtue of their (taurine or arginine) beneficial effect. These data suggest that it
would be worthwhile to explore further link between dietary arginine, taurine,
and markers of bone health. Future work should also focus on the role of particu-
lar amino acid in regulating bone metabolism.
Acknowledgements This research was supported by the Bisa Research Grant of Keimyung
University in 2010.
 
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