Effect of Fatty Acids on Bone Health and Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is considered the most common disease of the skeleton system، which reduces bone mass، and leads to an increased risk of fracture in the hip، spine and wrist. Different causes like genetic، environmental and hormonal factors، life style and nutrition affect the development of osteoporosis. In recent years، attention is paid to the role of different fatty acids in bone health and osteoporosis. This article reviews the effects of different fatty acids consumption on bone health and osteoporosis in both animals and humans. In order to do this study، literature search was done on PubMed، Google، Iran Medex and SID، analyzing the effect of fatty acids on bone health and osteoporosis. The MeSH keywords used for the search were osteoporosis، bone loss related to menopause and aging، fatty acids، saturated fatty acids، unsaturated fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid limited to the topics and abstracts in English and Farsi articles published between 1995 to 2012. Three hundred and fifty six results were found in the primary search of the databases. After sifting through the topics and abstracts، eventually 33 articles were selected which were directly related to the effects of various fatty acids on bone health and osteoporosis and its mechanism and used in this article. Reduction of total dietary fat and saturated fatty acid، decreased omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio and intake of unsaturated fatty acids especially omega-3 from plant sources have been reported to have a positive influence on bone health and lead to a decrease in osteoporotic fractures. A variety of mechanisms may explain the effects of fats on bone health، including changes in calcium absorption، formation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts، prostaglandin synthesis، alterations in cell membrane function and production or inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines. The results showed that different fatty acids via various mechanisms affect bone health، osteoporosis and incidence of bone fracture risk.