Insufficient amounts of calcium in the first days of life have a greater impact on bone health and the risk of obesity than previously assumed, researchers from North Carolina State University say on their website.
When observing newborn piglets, researchers noticed that a diet low in calcium resulted in lower bone density and strength. In addition, when scientists looked at stem cells in the bone marrow, they found that in piglets that were not getting enough calcium, many of these cells had already been programmed to become fat cells in the future.
Over the course of an animal’s life, programmed mesenchymal cells develop into bone-building cells, so a very early calcium deficiency causes bones to contain more fat cells than minerals. This in turn makes these piglets more susceptible to osteoporosis and obesity later in life, explains study author Dr Chad Stahl.
According to the researchers, pigs are a very good model for studying bone development, as they are one of the few animals suffering from osteoporosis-related defects. Therefore, the researcher emphasizes that providing an adequate amount of calcium to infants largely affects their health status later.
Perhaps this is a harbinger of a certain change in the way of thinking, says Stahl, – perhaps doctors will define osteoporosis not as a disease of the elderly, but as a childhood disease that only becomes active at a later stage (PAP).