Adequate Serum Copper Concentration Could Improve Bone Density, Postpone Bone Loss and Protect Osteoporosis in Women

Background: To determine the protective impact of efficient serum copper concentration on BMD in women and to asses its impression on bone. Methods: six hundred healthy women through a national project in Iran, IMOS, were selected via a cluster random sam¬pling and enrolled the study. They were divided to pre menopausal (404/600, 67.7% of total) and post menopausal (190/600, 32%of total) groups. BMD was measured by biphotonic absorptimetry DEXA for hip and lumbar spine. Morning serum copper concentration was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Results: Mean age was 40.92±14.8yr .Mean serum copper concentration= 105.85±40.15µg/dl and mean BMI= 27.13±4.81 kg/m2.Totaly 2.4% was smoking, 5% had regular physical activities three times a week and 17.5% was copper deficient. Prevalence of Osteoporosis in postmenopausal women was 12.9% in copper deficient persons vs.11.3% in normal serum copper ones. No significant difference found according to serum copper concentration associated with BMI, age and vita¬min D. Spine BMD revealed a significant correlation with serum copper content. (P= 0.001). This correlation also existed for Total hip (P< 0.05). Premenopausal women with serum copper level above 105 µg/dl revealed a significant difference in hip BMD compared to whom with less copper concentration.1.02± 0.13kg/m2 vs. 0.97± 0.13kg/m2 (P = 0.001). Copper had an independent role on determining hip BMD in pre menopaused women (P= 0.001). Conclusion: copper has an independent role on bone density in all healthy women. It could have an adjourning factor for bone loss as well as a protective agent for osteoporosis.