THERAPEUTICAL NOTES   

Minerva Ortopedica e Traumatologica 1999 October;50(5):201-8

Copyright © 1999 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

Female climacteric osteoporosis therapy with titrated horsetail (equisetum arvense) extract plus calcium (osteosil calcium): randomized double blind study

Corletto F.

Background. Aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of silicon uptake in the diet (Equisetum arvense) in subjects with in menopausal and senile osteoporosis.
Methods. The study recruited 122 women in menopause for at least two years, who had not undergone estrogen replacement therapy or drug therapies for recalcification: 30 patients were administered with titrated dry horsetail extract for 80 days; 31 patients were administered with a placebo for 40 days and titrated horsetail extract for a further 40 days; 29 patients received no treatment whatsoever; 32 patients were treated with OSTEOSIL Calcium for 80 days. All patients received two tablets per day according to procedures for randomized double blind studies.
Results. Variations in the results of Nordin tests, carried out at the beginning of the study and after 40 and 80 days, indicate that treatment with placebo and the absence of treatment were both ineffective; patients who received treatment with titrated horsetail extract after the period of placebo administration showed the same changes observed in patients treated with the active ingredient; treatment with titrated horsetail extract and with Osteosil Calcium proved effective in reducing the average score of the Nordin test and hence in improving bone metabolism. After the 80-day initial study period, patients treated with titrated horsetail extract and with Osteosil Calcium continued treatment for one year, two tablets per day for two months, followed by 2 weeks without treatment, then two months administration, 2 weeks rest, and so on.
Conclusions. Total body double ray bone densitometry carried out at baseline control and after one year's therapy with titrated horsetail extract or Osteosil Calcium showed a sharp increase in the average densimetric values for the vertebra, and these were significantly higher in patients treated with Osteosil Calcium, with an average recovery of bone mass of around 2.3%. During the period of the study no adverse events which could be attributed to the administration of the study drug were reported.