Calcium is indispensable for bone growth, and vitamin D is needed to maintain proper amounts of calcium in the body. But as people age, they lose bone mass and develop osteoporosis, often despite taking supplements of calcium and vitamin D.

Now, lab tests show that a newly synthesized form of vitamin D, called 2MD, induces bone-making cells to capture calcium and fortify bone mass. When given to rats, 2MD significantly increases the animals' bone density, U.S. researchers said.

The findings appear so promising that study coauthor Hector F. DeLuca, a biochemist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is planning to seek regulatory approval to test 2MD in people by the end of the year. DeLuca and his team gave 2MD to mature female rats whose ovaries had been removed. This animal model approximates human menopause, in which women stop producing the bone-preserving hormone estrogen. The treated rats' overall bone density over 23 weeks grew by 9 percent, while similar rats not getting 2MD saw no improvement. In the 2MD-treated rats, vertebral bone density rose 25 percent, far more than the average.

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