Association between Dietary Calcium Intake and Bone Mineral Density in Older Adults

ABSTRACT

Calcium is a requisite nutrient in maintaining bone health. High calcium intake has been recommended for osteoporosis prevention. However, the relationship of dietary calcium intake with bone mineral density (BMD) in the elderly remained controversial. We aimd to evaluate the association between them in older adults. Using data from the Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (NHANES, 2001–2006), we conducted multivariate logistic regression analyses to explore the association of dietary calcium intake with lumbar BMD in older adults. Subgroup analyses were also performed. We included 2904 older adults aged ≥ 60 (43.63% men) for analysis. Higher dietary calcium intake was associated with greater lumbar BMD after adjusting for other covariates. In the subgroup analysis stratified by sex, this positive association existed in women, but not in men. In conclusion, for older adults aged ≥ 60, higher dietary calcium intake is associated with a higher lumbar BMD in women, but not in men.

KEYWORDS:

• Dietary calcium
• bone health
• cross-sectional study
• NHANES

Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate the time and effort given by participants during the data collection phase of the NHANES project.

Author contributions

XCY, JTH and XHK contributed to data collection, analysis and writing of the manuscript. ZXZ contributed to study design and writing of the manuscript.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ethics review board of the National Center for Health Statistics approved all NHANES protocols and written informed consents were obtained from all participants.

Availability of data and material

The survey data are publicly available on the internet for data users and researchers throughout the world.