The Gut-Bone Axis: A Key Factor in Women’s Health and Osteoporosis Risk

Recent research has highlighted the gut’s contributions to overall health as well as an opportunity for healthcare providers to prioritize the gut microbiome for improving patient outcomes. Recently, I was pleased to join Dr. Jeff Bland, PhD, for a Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute (PLMI) webinar, Enhancing Bone Health: Exploring the Role of Synbiotic Therapy, with Journa and Solarea Bio advisor Dr. Susan Bukata, MD, Chair, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, UC San Diego. Together, we explored the history of synbiotics and the gut-bone axis, concentrating on innovative strategies for reducing bone loss.?

If you didn’t get a chance to attend, the following are the key takeaways from our conversations. Among the topics we reviewed are: managing bone health in clinical settings; how enhancing the gut barrier function can help to reduce systemic inflammation; and how Bondia?, a new #synbiotic medical food, can target osteoclast activity to improve outcomes for patients at risk of bone loss.?

The Science of Bone Loss in Women?

As women approach menopause, their bodies reduce estrogen production. That decrease in estrogen leads to an increase in inflammatory immune cell populations, including Th-17 cells. Th-17s release inflammatory cytokines that can increase osteoclast numbers and activity and contribute to rapid bone loss associated with osteoporosis.?

However, the #microbiome produces metabolites in the gut that can regulate systemic immune responses. For example, the microbiome produces short-chain fatty acids and indole derivatives that have been demonstrated to reduce the production of inflammatory cytokines. Short-chain fatty acids, like acetate, can reduce inflammation through multiple mechanisms. First, these metabolites help to reduce immune cell activation by improving gut barrier integrity. In addition, short-chain fatty acids can also promote an increase in Regulatory T Cell (Treg) populations. Tregs in turn produce anti-inflammatory cytokines that help to balance the inflammatory signals produced by Th-17 cells, thereby reducing osteoclast differentiation and proliferation and slowing bone loss.?

The Future of Bone Health is Strong??

Breakthrough science has allowed @Journa to harness the power of the edible plant microbiome to develop medical food synbiotics. We use rigorous scientific research and a deep understanding of microbial ecosystems to create groundbreaking products that improve human health and wellbeing. These are then tested for human safety and efficacy through robust randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical food trials with rigor similar to that of drug development. These pioneering natural solutions can address some of the most pervasive age- and women’s health- related health conditions, such as postmenopausal bone loss. ? ?

Journa has announced early access to its scientifically formulated daily synbiotic medical food, Bondia? (SBD111), to aid in the dietary management of bone loss associated with #menopause, osteopenia, weight, and aging. This novel synbiotic medical food has demonstrated it can improve outcomes for patients at risk of bone loss associated with #osteopenia. In a preclinical trial, Bondia was shown to significantly reduce bone loss in a postmenopausal model by 60%, and increased concentrations of Bondia? were shown to lessen inflammation and reduce markers of bone turnover. Together, these results are indicative of Bondia’s ability to reduce bone loss.?

Bondia is a synergistic combination of specific probiotic strains and prebiotic fibers designed to target the gut-bone axis. It works by modulating the immune responses directly in the gut, decreasing systemic inflammation, and increasing gut barrier integrity. Preclinical studies demonstrate that Bondia brings the delicate natural process of bone remodeling (bone breakdown and bone rebuilding) back into balance, reducing the speed at which bone is lost post-menopause. ?

Unique to this medical food is Journa’s process, which incorporates the highest level of scientific rigor into every aspect of development, validating the products in rigorous clinical food trials. Bondia was recently evaluated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical food trial that enrolled 286 early postmenopausal women, that put women’s health at the forefront. Results are pending peer review and publication.?

Helping Providers Expand Their Toolbox?

How do we apply emerging synbiotic evidence in clinical practice to manage osteopenia and osteoporosis? ?

During the webinar, Dr. Bukata noted: “We need to expand our toolbox when it comes to osteopenia and osteoporosis treatment. Doctors are asking for this. Patients are asking for this. And as we move towards the future of medicine where we're taking this personalized medicine approach, how do we take in all this new information to help patients look at the toolbox and decide what treatment they want to pursue? Bondia provides a targeted approach to bone loss, and it enables personalized care for an at-risk population.”?

For practitioners to enhance patient outcomes, Bondia can improve bone health and help to reduce bone loss, reducing inflammatory cytokines and supporting that gut barrier function. The goal should be helping patients hold onto bone when they're in a high-risk period of bone loss, such as women of perimenopausal age.?

Dr. Bukata went on to say, “Bondia can also be used as an adjunct to standard therapies. It doesn't have to be used on its own. It's a new and different approach to managing bone loss that can complement existing osteoporosis treatment, and it addresses the gut microbiota and the systemic effects that microbiota has on bone metabolism and inflammation.”?

Bondia helps manage bone health from an early stage, before bone loss and the associated risk of fracture requires pharmaceutical interventions. This approach will help to keep women on the right side of that curve in terms of their overall bone mass as they age and to potentially lower fracture risk.?

Early Intervention?

Bondia now offers an opportunity for women to take control of their bone health from an earlier stage, when they otherwise don’t have many options.??

Current recommendations for postmenopausal women - before the onset of osteoporosis - include diet, exercise, vitamins, and minerals, none of which have been proven to slow the loss of bone on their own. Bondia fills a critical unmet need for a safe, effective solution to maintain bone mass through the early stages of menopause and beyond for a happier, healthier future.?

Want to learn more? ?Visit our website for more information on our science and stay tuned for the clinical trial results that are pending peer review and publication.?