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Happy pills 'could be harmful'
28/11/2005 15:02 - (SA)
Norway - Ant-idepressants like the popular medication Fluoxitine, better known as Prozac, may help ease psychological problems but may also damage the skeleton, a Norwegian study said on Monday.
"Anti-depressants impede activity in the bone building cells. At the same time, they increase production of signal substances that stimulate the breakdown of bone mass," researcher Bjorn I Gustafsson at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim told the online site forskning.no.
Some 400 000 Norwegians are estimated to use anti-depressants daily.
Gustafsson's research has focused on Fluoxetine, but other antidepressants are believed to have similar side effects.
Anti-depressants increase the amount of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is an important neurotransmitter, and most of the body's serotonin is produced by specific cells in the stomach and intestinal system.
The research suggests that the anti-depressants affects the balance between bone producing osteoblasts, and osteoclasts that break down bone.
There are no long-term studies of the affects of anti-depressants but researchers in the Netherlands and the United States are trying to collect such data.
- SAPA
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