DIETARY XYLITOL RETARDS BONE-RESORPTION IN RATS

Dietary xylitol has previously been found to promote the content of ca lcium and minerals of the bone during rehabilitation following dietary calcium deficiency and during a normocalcemic diet in rats. This in v ivo experiment was performed in order to study whether a short-term di etary xylitol supplementation affects bone resorption and calcium inco rporation into bone during two different experiments utilizing either calcium-deficient or normocalcemic diets. Xylitol reduced bone resorpt ion measured by the urinary excretion of H-3 radioactivity both during calcium-deficient and normocalcemic diets. However xylitol reduced vi tamin D levels only during calcium deficiency, indicating that the dec reased bone dissolution was not associated with changes in 1,25(OH)(2) D-3 concentration alone. Dietary xylitol did not alter Ca-45 incorpora tion into bone, although this does not exclude the possibility that xy litol may have caused alterations in bone apposition. These results su ggest that a short-term xylitol ingestion retards bone resorption in t he rat.