The remarkable bone-building properties of a milk protein can help treat osteoporosis, researchers in New Zealand have discovered.
Auckland's Osteoporosis Research Group has found that lactoferrin inhibits bone breakdown and boosts bone growth four times faster than normal when injected directly into bone cells, reports Xinhua.
The injection of lactoferrin resulted in such "phenomenal bone growth" that it could be applied directly to fractures to promote faster healing, said research leader Jill Cornish, unveiling the findings at the World Dairy Summit in Melbourne.
The research is part of the LactoPharma project, a joint venture between Fonterra and Auckland UniServices to discover and commercialise new bioactive components in milk and colostrum.
"Work is far from over, but there is every reason to hope that the findings could result in new drugs and neutraceuticals for the prevention and cure of osteoporosis," Cornish said.
The dairy industry has been touting the wider benefits of lactoferrin for about a decade.
"It is good for the immune system. It's anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal," Cornish said.
LactoPharma has filed patent applications for lactoferrin as a bone-growth promoter. It plans to patent two new receptors that the team uncovered on bone-forming cells.
Receptors and molecules like lactoferrin had a lock and key relationship, which together could activate the process that makes new bone, Cornish said.
Once LactoPharma has established the patents and put together a portfolio of intellectual property, it will commercially license the technology.
Fonterra is likely to be interested in developing lactoferrin as a nutraceutical to be consumed in dairy drinks and foods as a preventative to osteoporosis.
According to Cornish, so far there was only one drug to treat osteoporosis, which affects 200 million people worldwide.
New Zealand alone spends about $140 million on the disease annually.
The country's dairy companies commercially produce lactoferrin, selling it for $350 a kg in Japan and South Korea.
About 10,000 tonnes of milk are used to produce one tonne of lactoferrin.
--Indo-Asian News Service