Table 3.

Effect of B. longum on the mineral content of the femur.

Femur mineral content (mg/g)	Sham	OVX	OVX + B. longum	p value
Ca	246.23 ± 10.14	242.09 ± 5.16	242.45 ± 15.26	0.280
Mg	33.23 ± 0.15	32.44 ± 0.12	32.76 ± 0.31	0.220
Zn	17.23 ± 2.04	13.89 ± 0.67	13.96 ± 1.25	0.241

Ten-week-old female Sprague-Dawley rats were supplemented with 1 mL of B. longum (10⁸–10⁹ CFU) once a day for 16 weeks, starting 2 weeks after surgery, while sham and OVX groups received 1 mL of demineralized water. At the end of the study, the calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and zinc (Zn) content of the femur was analyzed. Values represent the mean ± SEM (n = 8 in each group).

No significant difference was observed between the groups based on one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey's post hoc test.