Researchers belonging to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA, have discovered a modified form of vitamin D that can help stimulate bone growth. The University may thus lead to new treatments for the brittle bone disease, osteoporosis, according to a report published in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A study co-authored by Hector F DeLuca, Chairman of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin has revealed that the naturally occurring vitamin D, long known to be essential for healthy bones, does not appear to play a direct role in bone formation. The researchers are now studying a form of vitamin D called 2MD. This compound when modified in three ways from the natural occurring vitamin D hormone appears to boost bone growth by stimulating bone building cells.

Like the skin, bone is continuously being destroyed and rebuilt. Bone destroying cells, called, osteoclasts, chew holes in bone. These cavities are then filed in bone forming cells, called osteoblasts, using calcium as the building blocks. Bone forming cells continue to work faster than bone destroying cells till the age of 30 after which the osteoblasts slow down and bones start to thin. In women the thinning process accelerates at menopause when the ovaries stop producing estrogen.