MINERAL TRANSPORTERS
MINERAL TRANSPORTERS – THE NOVEL APPROACH IN MANAGEMENT OF BONE HEALTH AND OSTEOPOROSIS
ABSTRACT
Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by a decrease in the density of bone. Mineral transporters are electrically neutral compounds formed by joining of carrier molecules (like aspartic acid and orotic acid) with minerals (like calcium) that have different transport properties than unbound ionized minerals. Calcium orotate and calcium aspartate are some of the mineral transporters which are acid resistant and used for the treatment of osteoporosis.
OSTEOPOROSIS
Osteoporosis is a condition characterized by a decrease in the density of bone, decreasing its strength and resulting in fragile bones. Osteoporosis is a clinically silent but progressive disease until a fracture occurs. In UK the disorder resultsinover200,000 fractures a year, at anannual cost of over £940 million a year to the National Health Service. The epidemiology of fractures is very different in different parts of the world. In Europe, the number of people over 65 is expected to reacha figureof133millionfromonly68million in 1990, whereas in Asia the number is likely to grow from 145 million to 894 million during the same period. The demographic trend alone could increase the number of hip fractures worldwide to increase from1.3 million in 1990 to 6.3million in 2050, with most of the future hip fractures occurring in Asia. 1 The expected increase in hip fractures in World wide terms by 2050 is 8.2 million assumingthe annualrise inthe rangeof1%for age adjusted incidence. Even if rates of fractures stabilized in Europe and North America but rose by 3% per year in the rest ofthe world, the total could well exceed 21 million. 2 The only data fromAsian continent has been from China where there is a rapid rise of hip fractures, which is predominantly attributed to decline in physical activities and urbanization effect besides the usual factor common to all parts ofthe world such asincrease in the length of life in general. Commonestsites of fractures are the Hip and the Spine and most studies refer to these fractures extensively .