Vitamins May Avert Breakage Of Bones From Osteoporosis

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Folate and other B vitamins, already known to prevent severe birth

defects and heart attacks, may also ward off broken bones from

osteoporosis, two major studies suggest.

The findings underscore doctors' long-standing recommendation that

people take multivitamins. They could also further support the

government's decision to require bread and cereal makers to fortify their

products with folate, also known as folic acid.

B vitamins are known to reduce levels of homocysteine, an amino acid already

linked, at high levels, to an increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and

Alzheimer's disease. Now research in the Netherlands and the

United States shows high levels of homocysteine at least double the risk of

osteoporosis-related fractures.

" The basic way to keep your homocysteine down in a healthy range is to have

plenty of B vitamins, " said P. Kiel, senior author of the U.S. study

and director of medical research at Hebrew Rehabilitation

Center for Aged Research and Training Institute in Boston. The studies were

reported in today's New England Journal of Medicine.