Dietary treatment enhances bone formation in malnourished patients.
Patients with anorexia nervosa often suffer from osteopenia or osteoporosis. We therefore examined if a dietary treatment including an individually determined high caloric intake, Calcium and Vitamin D supplementation would improve bone metabolism in these patients. We studied 19 female patients aged 14.1 years, BMI 14.2 kg/m 2 and a healthy control group aged 15.1 years, BMI 20.8 kg/m 2 . The subjects were studied at baseline and at several fixed points of time during one year of treatment for bone formation and resorption markers. During the treatment there were no changes in the resorption marker CTX. After 15 weeks we found a significant increase of the bone formation marker PICP. Thus dietary treatment seems to be a promising tool to counteract bone loss in these patients.
Mika
C
C
DLR, German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Cologne, Germany. claudia.mika@dlr.de
Grzella
I
I
Herpertz-Dahlmann
B
B
Heer
M
M