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Summary

It may be good news for astronauts: a new drug prevents bone loss during long journeys in space. Of course, the real key to preventing bone loss during space travel is creating artificial gravity by spinning the spaceshit. When exposed to gravity and given adequate nutrition (including vitamin D, which is crucial for bone growth), the human body will automatically maintain sufficient bone mass, without the need for potentially dangerous pharmaceuticals.

Original source:
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/041004/full/041004-14.html

Details

• International Space Station astronauts Mike Fincke (left) and Gennady Padalka could spend longer in space if they lost less bone.
• A drug that prevents bone loss could permit astronauts to make long journeys in space, according to results from a study of spinal injury patients.
• The two biggest persistent health problems in space flight are radiation exposure and bone loss, says Jay Shapiro, a bone researcher at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland.
• The drug is normally used to prevent secondary bone tumours developing in cancer patients, and has shown early promise in retarding the effects of the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis.
• The solution will be a combination of clever medicine and clever space craft.
• In the study, eight patients who did not take the drug lost 16-18% of their femur bone mass over a year, while seven patients using the drug lost only 6%.
• "It's very much a first step, but it seems the most reasonable drug to use to allow trips to Mars."
• Shapiro presented the results last week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in Seattle, Washington.
• Jeanne Becker, associate director of the institute, is trying to arrange for an astronaut on the International Space Station to take the drug.
• But she says that, as the space shuttle's schedule is not certain, it may be years before zoledronate gets a zero-gravity test.
• The research could also benefit spinal injury patients, whose limbs fracture easily after bone loss.
• Drugs such as zoledronate could certainly play a key role in long space missions, says Colin McGuckin, a stem-cell scientist at Kingston University, UK, who is working with NASA to develop a way to use cell transplants to limit an astronaut's bone loss.
• "The solution will be a combination of clever medicine and clever spacecraft," he says.

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Related Articles: • Bone density sharply enhanced by weight training, even in the elderly • How to Beat and Prevent Osteoporosis Naturally • Stronger Bones - Without Drugs • About that bone scan and the meds that follow… • FDA Approves New Bone Drug which may Lead to Bone Death • Osteoporosis remains undiagnosed in millions of Americans; here's how to beat the disease with nutrition, exercise and sunlight

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