Vitamin B12 Levels May Indicate Osteoporosis Risk in Women

Vitamin B12 Levels May Indicate Osteoporosis Risk in Women

ZEIST, The Netherlands--Vitamin B12 status may beassociated with bone health in elderly women, according to researchers atWageningen University who published a study in the March Journal of Nutrition(133, 3:801-7, 2003) (www.nutrition.org).They studied data gathered from 194 elderly subjects (143 women and 51 men) anddiscovered women tended to have higher plasma vitamin B12 and lower homocysteinelevels than men. Variation in bone mineral content and bone mineral density inwomen was linked with plasma vitamin B12, as well as weight, height and energyintake, although these associations were not the same in men. Researchers alsonoted that women with a marginal or deficient level of vitamin B12 were morelikely to suffer from osteoporosis than women with normal status.