Microcrystalline Hydroxyapatite Calcium (MCHA) Research

Post menopausal women and those at risk from osteoporosis.

Research on whole bone MCHA dates back as far as the 1960's, wth the most recent work published in November 2008. Published scientific literature on whole bone MCHA demonstrates its effectiveness at slowing or halting loss of bone mineral density in post menopausal women, improving symptoms of bone pain in those with osteoporosis and slowing or halting the progression of osteoporosis.

Research also demonstrates its effectiveness as a complementary therapy to drug treatments such as raloxifene and estradiol. Two studies have shown that the efficacy of these drug therapies combined with daily MCHA supplementation was better than either of the two treatments alone.

It is important to note that this research does not apply to bone meal products, where the naturally occuring bone proteins have been destroyed by excessive heat treatment, or synthetic hydroxyapatites, where no protein is present. MCH-Cal^TM from Waitaki Biosciences contains 25% naturally occuring bone proteins.

Specifically, whole bone MCHA, with the naturally occuring bone proteins present, taken as a daily nutritional supplement has shown the following positive effects:

Reduced loss of bone mineral density in postmenopausal women when taken in conjunction with Raloxifene (Pelayo et al, 2008).
Increased vetebral bone mass in post menopausal women when used in conjunction with hormone replacement therapy (estradiol) to a greater extent then either treatment alone (Castelo Branco et al, 1999).
Increased bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with either below normal bone mineral density or inadequate dietary calcium intake (Fernandez-Parejo et al, 2007).
Prevented bone loss in a group of post menopausal women who had refused hormone replacement therapy (Castelo Branco, 1999)
Dramatically reduced skeletal (back) pain in a group of patients developing osteoporosis (Pines et al, 1984).
Slowed the progression of osteoporosis in patients receiving long term corticosteroid treatment ( Pines et al, 1984)
Restored lost bone mineral density in a group of women on corticosteroid therapy for primary billiary cirrhosis (Epstein et al, 1982).
Improved bone healing in rabbits with experimentally induced bone defects (Annefeld et al, 1986).

Comparison to other forms of calcium supplementation

Whole bone MCHA has been compared to both calcium carbonate and calcium gluconate in clinical trials.

Four trials have compared MCHA to calcium carbonate, and in all four of these studies MCHA has shown superior performance at improving loss of bone mineral density in post menopausal women (Pelayo et al 2008, Castelo Branco 1999, Ruegsegger et al 1995, Annefeld et al 1985).

There have been two published trials comparing MCHA to calcium gluconate. One of these studies demonstrated that whole bone MCHA was better than the equivalent amount of calcium gluconate at promoting the absorbtion of radio labeled calcium in elderly osteoporotic patients (Windsor et al, 1973). In the second study, whole bone MCHA was able to restore lost bone mineral in a group of corticosteroid treated patients. Patients treated with calcium gluconate had their bone loss halted, but not restored (Epstein et al, 1982).

For further information please contact the Waitaki Biosciences sales team