Maintenance of bone strength in aged rats: the Vitamin D requirement

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/453510

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Hip fracture remains the most devastating of the osteoporotic fractures particularly in women in whom the incidence increases to about 3% per annum by the ninth decade. This incidence is bound to increase as the population ages with increasing longevity. Supplementation of diets of elderly female nursing home residents with vitamin D and calcium has been shown to reduce the risk of hip fracture by 30% in two years. However we do not know how much vitamin D is necessary to maintain optimal bone strength. This project will determine the level of vitamin D required to maintain optimal bone strength in aged rats using a simple blood test which could then be used to screen the elderly and identify those at risk of hip fracture from low vitamin D levels. The project will also investigate the effects of vitamin D on the bone cells that maintain optimal skeletal architecture. This information is essential for comparison with the current knowledge of other biochemical bone markets in blood and vitamin D status in the elderly, in order to develop nutritional recommendations to reduce the incidence of hip fracture.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2007

End Date: 01-01-2009

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $543,301.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Orthopaedics

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

Ageing | Bone architecture | Hip fracture | Nutrition | Osteomalacia | Osteoporosis | Vitamin D

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