CALCIUM-METABOLISM, OSTEOPOROSIS AND ESSENTIAL FATTY-ACIDS - A REVIEW

Essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient animals develop severe osteoporos is coupled with increased renal and arterial calcification. This pictu re is similar to that seen in osteoporosis in the elderly, where the l oss of bone calcium is associated with ectopic calcification of other tissues, particularly the arteries and the kidneys. Recent mortality s tudies indicate that the ectopic calcification may be considerably mor e dangerous than the osteoporosis itself, since the great majority of excess deaths in women with osteoporosis are vascular and unrelated to fractures or other bone abnormalities. EFAs have now been shown to in crease calcium absorption from the gut, in part by enhancing the effec ts of vitamin D, to reduce urinary excretion of calcium, to increase c alcium deposition in bone and improve bone strength and to enhance the synthesis of bone collagen. These desirable actions are associated wi th reduced ectopic calcification. The interaction between EFA and calc ium metabolism deserves further investigation since it may offer novel approaches to osteoporosis and also to the ectopic calcification asso ciated with osteoporosis which seems to be responsible for so many dea ths. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.