WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Dietary supplements claiming to help postmenopausal women with bone health may not be doing what they say, according to new research from Purdue University.

Women who are menopausal or postmenopausal produce less estrogen, and that leads to bone loss. More than 2 million women in the United States reach menopause each year, according to the National Women's Health Resource Center.

“We found that some plant-derived isoflavones have a modest effect on suppressing bone loss during post-menopause, but more concerning is many dietary supplements that claim to have the power of estrogen do not,” said Connie Weaver, distinguished professor of foods and nutrition. “It’s buyer beware. Some of the supplements in our study claimed to be substitutes for estrogen, yet they weren’t effective at all or weren’t as effective as some of the current treatments for osteoporosis.”

Women who are menopausal or postmenopausal produce less estrogen, and that leads to bone loss. More than 2 million women in the United States reach menopause each year, according to the National Women’s Health Resource Center.

Estrogen hormone replacement therapy was the traditional treatment, but it is no longer recommended for the long term because of links to stroke, embolism and breast cancer. Some individuals have harmful side effects with long-term use of bisphosphonates, the current main class of osteoporosis treatment drugs.

“This is a reminder that it’s better to build up a good healthy skeleton than to rely on a drug to fix it later,” Weaver said. “Healthy bones can be maintained by a good diet that is rich in calcium and regular exercise that includes strength training.”

Weaver, who also is co-director of the Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases, and her team looked at four popular isoflavones: soy cotyledon, soy germ, red clover and kudzu. These plant-derived phytoestrogens are claimed to protect bone health from estrogen loss, which can lead to osteoporosis and even fractures.

The researchers compared the four isoflavones to a traditional bisphosphonate treatment, risedronate and estrogen plus progesterone. These traditional therapies decreased bone loss 22 percent to 24 percent, but only soy isoflavones from the cotyledon and germ significantly decreased bone loss by 9 percent and 5 percent, respectively. The findings are available online and will be published in the October edition of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

The findings also indicate that the soy cotyledon was more effective because of its higher genistein content. Weaver’s team is currently evaluating the role of genistein more closely.

“Before, we might have assumed that any isoflavone was equally effective, but we found that for a supplement to work it was because of the genistein content specifically,” she said.

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and supplements were supplied by the dietary and health companies Cognis, Frutarom and Novagen. Weaver also is on the advisory board of Pharmative and Wyeth Global Nutrition. The Botanicals Research Center for Age Related Diseases is a partnership between Purdue and the University of Alabama-Birmingham.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — In honor of Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month, many organizations are reminding people to drink milk to prevent bone loss later in life. Unfortunately, there is little attention paid to those who want to prevent osteoporosis but are unable to incorporate an increased amount of dairy products into their daily diet due to lactose intolerance or other dietary considerations. Spine-health.com, a leading medical website devoted to back pain and other spine conditions, including osteoporosis, is offering hope and advice for that under served segment of the population.

“I’m lactose intolerant, but I’m also at an increased risk for osteoporotic fractures not only because I completely stopped consuming dairy at age 12, but also because of scoliosis because it causes uneven pressure on the vertebrae,” says Carolyn Shelby, a contributor to the Spine-health.com Blog. “All of the information I see in the media focuses on prevention through drinking more milk, and I just cannot drink milk… or eat most cheeses… or have ice cream. Even though I can’t consume dairy in the quantities I should, I still want to prevent bone loss and I want to avoid becoming C-shaped.”

In addition to people who are lactose intolerant, many dieters are choosing to cut back on dairy because it adds extra calories and fat to meals. Dieters, especially those who increase their intake of protein (specifically meat) to replace carbohydrates, are risking more than not consuming enough calcium; their high protein diet actually prevents the absorption of calcium, so what they do consume isn’t doing as much good as it could.

Spine-Health.com offers the following tips for people who want to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis, but are unable or unwilling to increase the amount of dairy products in their diet:

1. Stop drinking soda or pop. High phosphate levels in the blood (which can be caused by consuming large quantities of pop) leach calcium from your bones and prevent the absorption of new calcium.
2. Get enough Vitamin D. Calcium is absorbed by the body and used only when there is enough vitamin D in your system. A balanced diet should provide an adequate supply of vitamin D from sources such as eggs and liver. Sunlight also helps the body naturally absorb vitamin D, and with enough exposure to the sun, additional food sources may not be necessary.
3. Eat your beans (baked). One cup of baked beans has 154mg calcium (remember the target is 1,200mgs/day).
4. Canned Salmon. Three ounces of canned salmon contain 181mg calcium. Salmon also is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.
5. Calcium fortified foods. Many foods are now calcium-fortified. You can find calcium fortified soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, orange juice, cranberry juice, breakfast cereals, breakfast bars at almost every grocery store.
   • An 8oz glass of calcium-fortified orange juice provides about 300mg of calcium – which is about the same as a single serving of milk.
   • One cup of calcium fortified soy milk has nearly 300mgs of calcium and can be used over calcium fortified cereal — two great sources of calcium in one meal.
6. Oatmeal isn’t just for breakfast. One cup of oatmeal not only provides 100–150mg of calcium, it is also a versatile add-in to many other foods and can be used to increase the calcium quotient in breakfast cereal, added to yogurt, or even mixed in with favorite baking recipes.
7. Eat spinach, broccoli and dark green leafy vegetables. Kale, parsley, broccoli, spinach and other dark green leafy veggies each provide about 100mgs of calcium per serving. In addition to just making an effort to eat your greens, you can also try substituting raw spinach for iceberg lettuce on your sandwiches and in your salads.
8. Eat Nuts. Almonds and brazils nuts contain about 100mgs of calcium per serving and are both recommended snacks for people on low carb diets.
9. Drink your latte. A Starbucks Grande latte provides almost half the daily calcium needs. Lactose intolerant coffee lovers can have their lattes made w/ soy instead of cow milk.
10. Take an Over-the-Counter Calcium Supplement. You can add a calcium supplement like Os-Cal® or even Tums® to your daily routine to make up the calcium gap. Word of caution… Just because a single Tums has 200mgs of calcium doesn’t mean you can take 5 a day to meet your RDA. It is ultimately and primarily an antacid, not a calcium supplement, and as such it can have a detrimental effect on your digestive system if taken long term.