Effects of high calcium intake for preventing children obesity on the ratio beta to alpha bone markers

We previously confirmed that high Ca intake was effective to prevent epidemic obesity in school children. Since children obesity is usually linked to bad bone development, we explored the possibility that high Ca status were also adequate to improve bone maturation. Basal urine samples were obtained from 200 healthy scholars 5 to 10 Y old. Maturation was assessed by the ratio between two degradation product of collagen type I: α and β‐CTX, measurable in urine (CrossLaps immunoassay (ELISA, Nordic Bioscience Diag). Ca was determined by SAA and expressed in relation to the creatinine in the same sample (Kit WienerLab ® ). Changes in the β to α CTX ratio were analyzed in relation to three age groups: 5–6 (1); 7–8 (2) and 9–10 (3) Y. Ca status (CaS) was defined as: Ca/C <0,07, Deficient (D), 0.07–0,15 Adequate (A) and > 0,15 High (H). Although increase in β to α ratio was expected for the younger children the figure shows that only significant difference found was between A and H (p<0,05) in the group close to puberty. The results suggest that the need of high Ca intake to prevent obesity could also apply to bone development in preadolescence. UBCyT B060. H Dupraz. PhD Thesis