Bone Growth Is Controlled In The Gut!

Filed in archive Studies on November 26, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 6827769

Such is the new discovery by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center: bone growth is controlled in the gut through serotonin.

Until now, the skeleton was thought to control bone growth, and serotonin was primarily known as a neurotransmitter acting in the brain. This new insight could transform how osteoporosis is treated in the future by giving doctors a way to increase bone mass, not just slow its loss.

Researchers have known that 95 percent of the body's serotonin is produced by a part of the gastrointestinal tract known as the duodenum, where it was presumed to be involved in digestion. The brain is where the remaining five percent of the body's serotonin is produced.

Quite a discovery, i might say.