Abstract

To investigate the effect of levels of dietary protein and age on bone metabolism 40% and 5% casein were fed to the rats of 2 & 13 months of age for 12 weeks. High protein groups showed higher bone weight and Ca content than low protein groups and urinary Ca loss was increased in high protein groups but the difference disappeared gradually. A significant increase in urinary hydroxyproline excretion was noted in high protein groups of both age. Another short term study was undertaken to study if the above effect was related with renal function or PTH. Extremely high and low protein diets(60%, 6%) were fed to the rats of different ages(6wks, 6mos.) for 2 weeks, Urinary Ca excretion was significantly increased in high protein groups of young and aged rats and GFR was increased as well. There was no difference in serum iPTH levels between low and high protein groups, but it was elevated in aged rats. Alkaline phosphatase activity was higher in young rats, reflecting faster bone formation. The observed hypercalciuria in high protein groups, especially in aged rats, seems to be related to higher GFR, and PTH dose not appear to be a major mediator.

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