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Egyptian researchers have found out that flaxseed oil can help in reducing osteoporosis risk in post-menopausal and diabetic women.
Mer Harvi and his colleagues at the National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt, experimented with 70 female albino rats, 30 out of which had had their ovaries removed (ovx).
Subsequently, the rats were categorised as control, sham, diabetic, diabetic received flaxseed oil in the diet, ovx, ovx-diabetic and ovx-diabetic received flaxseed oil in the diet.
After two months, the urine and blood samples of ovx and the diabetic ovx groups showed higher levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and the bone-creating protein osteocalcin. The non-ovx diabetic group had lower levels of these compounds.
The levels of IGF-1 and osteocalcin could be brought under control by the use of flaxseed oil in the diet.
It was also noticed that the diabetic group had high levels of deoxypyridinoline. Deoxypyridinoline is present in the bone and is excreted unmetabolised in urine. It is a specific indicator of bone resorption and is measured in urine tests to corroborate osteoporosis. Flaxseed oil in food reduced the levels of this compound.
It was concluded that flaxseed oil was useful to diabetic women in reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
Harvi and team write, "We recommend further investigations using animals and humans to confirm the effect of using dietary flaxseed oil to improve bone health and to prevent osteoporosis."
