RESEARCH ARTICLE Combined Oral Administration of Bovine Collagen Peptides with Calcium Citrate Inhibits Bone Loss in Ovariectomized Rats

Purpose Collagen peptides (CPs) and calcium citrate are commonly used as bone health supple-ments for treating osteoporosis. However, it remains unknown whether the combination of oral bovine CPs with calcium citrate is more effective than administration of either agent alone. Methods Forty 12-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 8) for once-daily intragastric administration of different treatments for 3 months at 3 months after ovariectomy (OVX) as follows: sham + vehicle; OVX + vehicle; OVX + 750 mg/kg CP; OVX + CP-calcium citrate (75 mg/kg); OVX + calcium citrate (75 mg/kg). After euthanasia, the femurs were removed and analyzed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and micro-com-puted tomography, and serum samples were analyzed for bone metabolic markers. Results OVX rats supplemented with CPs or CP-calcium citrate showed osteoprotective effects