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School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Shizuoka, Shizuoka 422, Japan
* Department of Food and Nutrition, School of Home-Economics, Japan Women's University, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112, Japan
Kagawa Nutrition University, Sakado 350-02, Japan
Maltitol is a disaccharide alcohol generated by hydrogenation of maltose and exhibiting resistance to intestinal disaccharidases. We demonstrated previously that maltitol stimulates transepithelial transport of calcium in the ileum, accompanied by an elevation of intestinal calcium absorption as well as calcium retention in the body. In this study, we examined whether the maltitol-induced increase in intestinal calcium absorption leads to an alteration of the physical properties of bones in rats subjected to ovariectomy. We used this study as a simulation model for postmenopausal females who are at risk for osteoporosis. Following the intake of a low-calcium diet for 28 d ovariectomized rats were fed diets containing either 10% maltose (control) or 10% maltitol, together with increased amounts of calcium (0.3% in Experiment 1 and 1.2% in Experiment 2) for 21 d. Balance studies performed during the final 5-d (Experiment 1) or 2-d (Experiment 2) period of the experiments showed that maltitol increased intestinal calcium absorption and retention. The breaking force of femoral bones was significantly elevated (by 57%) in animals fed the maltitol diet compared with that in rats fed the maltose diet. The calcium content in the femoral bones as well as the mineral bone density of the tibial metaphysis was also elevated in rats fed the maltitol diet. These results indicate that maltitol stimulates the intestinal absorption of dietary calcium leading to an increase in calcium content in the bone, and coinciding with the elevation of the breaking strength of the bone in ovariectomized rats.
KEY WORDS: calcium maltitol intestinal absorption bone rats
1 Supported by a Grant-in-Aid from Shizuoka Prefecture Foundation for Science and Education.
2 The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Manuscript received 27 December 1994. Revision accepted 13 June 1995.
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