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12 Mar 2008
Women at risk of developing osteoporosis could benefit in the future from a new injection which appears to prevent bones from becoming brittle.
A study carried out by Mount Sinai School of Medicine in the US gave a thyroid-stimulating hormone to rats and found that it stopped bones from deteriorating.
The treatment also appeared to strengthen bones, the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences stated.
The hormone was injected fortnightly into female rats whose ovaries were removed to create the post-menopausal conditions thought to be linked to osteoporosis.
Scientists now believe that the findings could potentially aid the development of osteoporosis prevention treatment for millions of women.
However they stressed that a treatment for humans was still some years away.
According to figures from the World Health Organisation, osteoporosis affects an estimated one-third of women aged 60 and 70.
In the EU an estimated 400,000 women suffer osteoporosis-related hip fractures annually, with this figure expected to rise to one million by 2050.
Click here to learn more about osteoporosis
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