Abstract

To study the effects of the age and the dietary protein content on Ca metabolism male rats of 1 month 6 month 12 month of age were fed experimental diets containing 5%, 15% or 50% casein for 4 weeks. Food and ca intake were higher in old rats and in high protein groups. The weight ash and Ca contents of femur and tibia were higher in old rats. The higher dietary protein level resulted in higher skeletal weigh ash and Ca contents. But high protein diet(50% casein) lead to reduced bone mineral density(ash/dry bone weight) and Ca density(Ca/dry bone weight) in 1 month old rats. Low protein diet(5% casein) on the other hand reduced the bone growth even though the bone density was higher in this group. The ill effect of low protein diet was not evident in 12 month old rats. Glomerular filteration rate(GFR) and urinary Ca excretionincreased with age and with dietary protein level especially in 12 month old rats. Serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone(iPTH) level tended to be higher in aged rats but was not affected by dietary protein level except 1 month old rats where 50% protein group showed significantly higher value. This study showed that the dietary protein level seemed to have different effect on Ca metabo-lism in rats of different age., The low bone density in the high protein group of growing rats may be due to the higher iPTH level and increased urinary Ca. The dietary protein level however had no effects on the bone composition in aged rats even though the higher urinary Ca excretion. In conclusion this study suggests that high protein intake from young may lead to less peak bone mass and to increase the bone loss in later years, which would increase the risk for osteporosis.

Keywords

• dietary protein level;
• age;
• iPTH;
• GFR;
• urinary Ca;
• bone mineral;
• bone calcium