Effects of Chlorella Dietary Supplementation on Bone Biochemical Markers of Turnover in Postmenopausal Women

Currently bone biochemical markers are considered to be the best indicators of present and the future state of bone turnover. A recent study has reported that chlorella increases the bone mineral density (BMD) on postmenopausal women, but presently there are no studies on bone biochemical markers treated with chlorella dietary supplementation. The purpose of the present study was to assess the bone biochemical markers for the short term and long term treatment groups, and non-treatment group as a control. Twenty two postmenopausal woman were treated for four months and eighteen for one year with 4 gm of chlorella dietary supplementation per day, and then assessed bone biochemical markers from serum and urine samples. Bone turnover rates calculated with Osteocalcin (OC), bone specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) as a bone formation markers and deoxypyridinoline (Dp), cross-linked N-telopeptides of type I collagen (NTx) as a bone resorption markers, showed 113±87% for control group, 61±11% for short term treated group and 190±101% for long term treated group. We conclude that chlorella dietary supplementation enhances the bone formation, and NTx as a single markers, OC/Dp as a single markers of bone turnover rate were very useful tools for determine the effectiveness of chlorella dietary supplementation for the postmenopausal women.