The bone remodeling transient: Interpreting interventions involving bone-related nutrients

Abstract

The bone remodeling transient is a temporary alteration in the balance between bone formation and bone resorption, brought about by any agency that affects bone remodeling. Ascertaining the steady state effect of an intervention requires factoring the component of the change due to the transient out of the total bony response. Since parathyroid hormone (PTH) is the principal regulator of the quantity of remodeling activity, and since calcium intake influences PTH secretion, it follows that altering calcium intake will always induce a remodeling transient. Worked examples from three published calcium intervention studies are presented, and the errors that can be made by ignoring the transient and simply measuring change in bone mass across treatment are described.