Abstract
Clinical studies indicate that the combination of vitamin D and dietary calcium supplementation is more effective for reducing fracture risk than either supplement alone. Our previous dietary studies demonstrated that an adequate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25D) of 80 nmol/L or more reduces bone RANKL expression, osteoclastogenesis and maintains the optimal levels of trabecular bone volume (BV/TV%) in young rats. The important clinical question of the interaction between vitamin D status, dietary calcium intake and age remains unclear. Hence, 9 month-old female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 5–6/group) were pair-fed a semi-synthetic diet containing varying levels of vitamin D (0, 2, 12 or 20 IU/day) and dietary calcium (0.1% or 1%) for 6 months. At 15 months of age, animals were killed, for biochemical and skeletal analyses. While changes to serum 25D were determined by both dietary vitamin D and calcium levels, changes to serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D) were consistently raised in animals fed 0.1% Ca regardless of dietary vitamin D or vitamin D status. Importantly, serum cross-laps levels were significantly increased in animals fed 0.1% Ca only when combined with 0 or 2 IUD/day of vitamin D, suggesting a contribution of both dietary calcium and vitamin D in determining bone resorption activity.
