Ingredient in tequila plant may fight osteoporosis and other diseases
Date: 16.9.2010
The plant that gave the world tequila contains a substance that seems ideal for use in a new genre of processed foods -- so-called "functional foods".
"Fructans are considered functional food ingredients because they affect body processes in ways that result in better health and reduction in the risk of many diseases," said Mercedes López, Ph.D.
In the new study, López and colleagues set out to determine what effects agave fructans actually have on bone growth. They tested the effects of agave fructans on laboratory mice, used as stand-ins for humans in such research. Mice fed agave fructans absorbed more calcium from food, excreted less calcium in their feces, and showed a 50 per cent increase in levels of a protein associated with the build-up of new bone tissue.
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