Androgens play a very important role in building the skeleton in young adults and help to prevent bone loss and osteoporosis in aging men. In addition, in hypogonadism or elderly men, bone mass has been related to estrogen levels rather than to testosterone. Estrogen replacement therapy has therefore been proposed to prevent bone loss in males as well as in females. Estrogen, however, has been considered to be one of the hormonal risk factors for benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer and also has other side effects. Young coconut juice (YCJ) presumably containing phytoestrogen was investigated in the present study for its possible beneficial effects on delaying osteoporosis using a male rat model, and by this to test the possibility that it might be able to replace estrogen replacement therapy without side effects. In this study, mandibular cancellous bone was used as the osteoporotic model. Using the same model, we have previously found that total cartilage thickness particularly the hypertrophic zone of mandibular condylar cartilage was thicker in the sham-operated rats receiving YCJ orally fed for a 14 day period, compared with sham, orchidectomized animal, orchidectomized rats receiving estradiol benzoate, and orchidectomized rats receiving YCJ. The present study confirmed our former study that mandibular cancellous bone in the sham-operated rats and in the orchidectomized rats receiving YCJ orally fed for a 14–day period were thicker than those of the sham and orchidectomized rat groups. This study results are novel and they indicate that YCJ may have beneficial effects in the treatment of osteoporosis in andropause men.
