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 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 as one of the hormonal risk factors of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer and also 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, to replace estrogen replacement therapy. In this study, mandibular condylar cartilage was used as the osteoporotic model. We have found that total cartilage thickness, particularly the hypertrophic zone of mandibular condylar cartilage, was thickest in the sham-operated rats receiving YCJ orally fed for a 14-day period, compared with a sham, orchidectomized, orchidectomized rats receiving estradiol benzoate, and orchidectomized rats receiving YCJ.
