A study found that taking two blackcurrant supplement capsules a day either prevented the loss of, or even increased, whole-body bone mineral density in postmenopausal women
Study Suggests Blackcurrant Supplementing Mitigates Postmenopausal Bone Loss
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>Forty peri- and early post-menopausal participants between the ages of 45 and 60 took capsules of blackcurrant powder daily for six months. Participants were randomly assigned to either take one capsule, two capsules, or a placebo. Each capsule was 392 milligrams.
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>The researchers found that the supplements prevented the loss of whole-body bone mineral density. The group that took two capsules actually showed overall increases in bone mineral density at the end of the six-month trial period.
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>The researchers looked at changes to the gut microbiome and immune system, which interact to play a key role in bone metabolism.
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>They found that the blackcurrant supplements decreased levels of proteins called interleukin-1 beta and RANKL. Interleukin-1 beta stimulates the expression of RANKL which causes bone resorption and thus a decrease in bone density.
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>“The reduction in RANKL is important because that can cause shifts toward excessive bone resorption, so we’d want to see a decrease in that,” Nosal says.
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>This study showed that the decrease in RANKL was directly correlated with an increase in whole body bone density after six months.
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>Taking the supplements also increased a bacteria found in the gut microbiome called Ruminococcus 2. This led the researchers to infer that it could be one of the bacteria driving the protective effects blackcurrant has on bones.
Paper: [Blackcurrants shape gut microbiota profile and reduce risk of postmenopausal osteoporosis via the gut-bone axis: Evidence from a pilot randomized controlled trial – ScienceDirect](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955286324001347)
How does two supplement pills compare with eating a punnet of fresh blackcurrants (such as those in the picture accompanying the article), which I do every time I find them in the shops. Which, sadly, is not that often.
It’s too bad that we actually banned blackcurrants in the United States from 1911-2003 due to the logging industry, and they’re still banned in some states.