May 14, 2010 - Not getting enough calcium when one is an infant could endanger bone health for life and perhaps trigger obesity, a new research says. During an 18-day trial involving newborn pigs, researchers documented markedly lower levels of bone density and strength in half the piglets fed a calcium-deficient diet compared to the other half that received more calcium.

When the researchers looked at certain stem cells in bone marrow, they found that many of these cells in the calcium-deficient piglets appeared to have already been programmed to become fat cells instead of bone-forming cells.

Because these programmed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) replicate to provide all the bone-forming cells for an animal's entire life, very early calcium deficiency may have predisposed the piglets to have bones that contain more fat and less mineral.

That could make those pigs more prone to osteoporosis and obesity in later life, said Chad Stahl, associate professor of animal science at the North Carolina State University, who led the study.

The researchers are using pigs as a model for human health because pigs and humans are similar when it comes to bone growth and nutrition. Pigs are one of the few animals known to experience bone breaks related to osteoporosis, Stahl said.

One of the most surprising findings of the 18-day feeding study was that while the calcium-deficient pigs had substantially lower bone strength and density, blood tests didn't indicate any difference in levels of the hormonal form of vitamin D, a North Carolina State University release said.

It regulates the amount of calcium circulating in the blood of older children and adults. Stahl said this suggests that calcium regulation in newborns isn't dependent on vitamin D.