Nutrition has a bigger impact on bone strength than exercise

Scientists and fitness experts would like to know if exercise or nutrition has a greater positive impact on bone strength.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have examined mineral supplementation and exercise in mice and have come up with surprising results: nutrition has a greater impact on bone mass and strength than it does. ;exercise. In addition, even after cessation of physical training, the mice retained bone strength gains as long as they ate a mineral-enriched diet.

"The long-term mineral-based diet not only leads to increased bone mass and strength, but also the ability to maintain that increase even after withdrawal," said David Kohn, UM professor in schools of nutrition. dentistry and engineering. "This has been done in mice, but if you think about progression in humans, it is easier for someone to diet as he gets older and that he gets older. he stops exercising, rather than continuing to exercise. "

The second important finding is that the diet alone has beneficial effects on the bones, even without exercise. This surprised Kohn, who expected that exercise with a normal diet would allow greater gains in terms of bone strength, but this was not the case.

"The data suggests that long-term consumption of a mineral-based diet could be beneficial in preventing bone loss and strength with age, even if you do not do it." 39, physical exercise, "he said.

The combination of both amplifies the effect.

Most other studies are examining the effects of increasing dietary calcium, Kohn said. The U-M study increased calcium and phosphorus, and showed benefits in increasing both.

This is not to say that people are exhausting and buying calcium and phosphorus supplements, Kohn said. The results do not translate directly from mice to humans, but they offer researchers a conceptual place to start.

Humans are known to reach peak bone mass in their early twenties and then decrease. The question is how to maximize the amount of bone when it is young, so that when the decline starts, people leave a better position, Kohn said.

In addition to testing bone mass and strength, Kohn and his colleagues performed a full battery of mechanical bone assessments, which is important because the amount of bone does not always vary with the mechanical quality of the tissue. .

They tested the mice after eight weeks of training and completed their diet or their normal diet and then after eight weeks of training.

The study was published online in PLOS ONE.

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