This study was conducted to determine whether olive fruits, rich in
micronutrients, might improve bone loss in ovariectomized (OVX) rats (an experimental model of
postmenopausal osteoporosis) and in OVX rats with granulomatosis
inflammation (a model of
senile osteoporosis). Six-month-old Wistar female rats underwent
ovariectomy and were then immediately treated orally by substituting oil in the diet by 10 g/d green Lucques olives or 6 g/d black Lucques olives for each rat for 84 days. OVX rats and
sham-operated controls received the same diet with oil. Three weeks before the end of the experiment, subcutaneous
inflammation was provoked by
injections of sterile
magnesium silicate in half the animals in each group. In OVX rats, granulomatosis
inflammation, characterized by a rise in inflammatory parameters such as
fibrinogen, alpha1-acid
glycoprotein, spleen weight and granulocyte level, and an impairment of oxidative status (as shown by a decrease in plasma
antioxidant capacity, a higher rate of
isoprostane excretion) elicited a bone loss in the whole femur and in the metaphyseal areas considered on their own. Whereas green olives had no effect on
osteopenia, consumption of the black variety prevented bone loss in the whole femur and at cortical sites in those oestrogen-deficient animals with
talc inflammation (diaphyseal bone mineral density: black olives and
inflammation 0-2323 (SE 0.0026) v.
ovariectomy and
inflammation 0.2117 (SE 0.0030); P=0.027). This bone-sparing effect seemed to result from an improvement in the inflammatory and oxidative status. The present data show that black olives are able to prevent bone loss in an experimental model of
senile osteoporosis (oestrogen-deficient rats in which a low-grade
inflammation was induced by
talc injection).