If she makes an error, she needs to know that they still love her. If she wants to give up on the sport, she should know they'll support her decision. Return to Perspective home page Vitamin E and bone growth Calcium and vitamin D may not be the only secrets to growing strong bones. Researchers at Purdue and Indiana University teamed up to study bone growth in chicks and found that vitamin E helps bones grow. Watkins and Mark Seifert, his collaborator and associate professor at the IU School of Medicine, stress that the results don't necessarily apply to humans.
Researchers commonly use chicks, mice and rats when they study bone growth and development.
Watkins and Seifert found that when chicks were given extra vitamin E, the rate of bone formation in the spongy ends of leg bones was greater than that in chicks not given the supplement. The results indicate that vitamin E increases the rate of bone formation and may slow natural bone breakdown. Vitamin E most likely exerts its influence as an antioxidant by protecting cells from the damaging effects of free radicals, molecules that chemically break down fats, proteins and DNA in the body. Apparently, vitamin E protects bone-forming cells from free radicals and helps those cells produce new bone. Also, vitamin E has been used with some success in reducing the severity of inflammatory arthritis in the elderly.