B Vitamins Dont Impact Bone Turnover

DUNEDIN, New ZealandB vitamins may work to lower homocysteine levels, but dont impact bone turnover in older adults, according to researchers from the University of Otago (Am J Clin Nutr, 85, 2:460-4, 2007). Healthy older adults (n=276; age 65 years or older) received a placebo or a supplement with 1 mg folate, 500 mcg B12 and 10 mg B6 for two years; 135 of the participants with homocysteine concentrations over 15.0 µmol/L also had bone formation/resorption markers tested at baseline and studys end. At the end of the intervention, plasma homocysteine levels were 5.2 µmol/L lower in the vitamin group compared to placebo; however, no differences were seen in serum bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (formation marker) or bone-derived collagen fragments (resorption marker). Despite findings in other prospective studies, lowering plasma homocysteine with B vitamins did not appear to benefit bone turnover in this group of older adults.