food and bone health

[TiwapornParticipant]

Is a cup of milk daily enough for preventing osteoporosis?

[Brianna HardistyParticipant]

The NIH has updated their requirements for calcium intake recommendations for different ages in November of 2010. The recommendations for people ages 9-18 are 1300mg, ages 19-70 1000 mg and ages 70 or more is 1200mg. Another key nutrient in the prevention of bone loss is vitamin D. The recommendations for vitamin D are as follows: people who are between the ages of 9-70 is 600 IU and those between the ages 70 or older vitamin D increases to 800 IU (1). In one cup of milk there are about 290 mg (29% of RDA) of calcium and 127 IU (32% of RDA). Thus, one cup of milk would not be sufficient in preventing osteoporosis. These intakes are less than half of the RDA. A meta-analysis was done in 2007 and looked at the effect of calcium and vitamin D in the prevention of osteoporosis. Most of the studies that were looked at concentrated on people over 50 years old, so they required more calcium and vitamin D than younger age groups. However, the studies supported the hypothesis that calcium and vitamin D help in the prevention of osteoporosis. The studies that were included showed that there was a 54% reduced bone loss in the hip and 19% reduction in the spine. Also a positive effect on bone mineral density was found in most of the studies as well (2). Another study that looked at post-menopausal women ages 50-70, who supplemented with calcium (1000mg) and vitamin D (400 IU) had an increase of 1.06% in bone density compared to the control group that was not supplemented. Also those that supplemented had a 0.88 hazard ratio for hip fractures with a 95% confidence interval (3). Thus calcium and vitamin D have shown to be beneficial in the reduction of bone fractures and may increase bone density overall and the RDA should be met through dietary intake and maybe supplementation.

1) “Calcium and Vitamin D: Important at Every Age.” NIH Oseoperosis and Related Bone Diseases National Resource Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr 2014. <http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bone/&gt;.
2)Tang B, Eslick G, Nowson C, Smith, Bensoussan A. Use of calcium or calcium in combination with vitamin D supplementation to prevent fractures and bone loss in people aged 50 years and older: a meta-analysis. The Lancet.2007:370;657-666
3) Jackson R, LaCroix A, Gass M, et al. Calcium plus vitamin d supplementation and the risk of fractures. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2006; 354:669-683.

[TiwapornParticipant]

Thank you Brianna, I agree with your response. I would like to add some information about calcium and vitamin D consumption and bone health. The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008-2010 presented that calcium intake less than 400 mg/day was significant lower bone mineral density, and calcium intake up to 1200 mg/day was positive correlation with bone mineral density. Therefore, low calcium intake was significantly related with low bone mineral density and increase risk of osteoporosis (1). Moreover, the research about effect of calcium phosphate and vitamin D3 supplementation in sixty healthy subjects (age 20-70 years) reported that daily supplement with calcium 10000 mg+ vitamin D3 400 IU significantly increased plasma vitamin D level when compared to supplement with vitamin D3 alone. Plasma vitamin D concentration is important to maintain the extracellular calcium concentrations and has direct effects on bone health. Moreover, the supplementation did not adversely influence the metabolism of magnesium and iron (2).

1. Min Kim K, et al. Interactions between Dietary Calcium Intake and Bone Mineral Density or Bone Geometry in a Low Calcium Intake Population (KNHANES IV 2008-2010). J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2014 Mar 31[Epub ahead of print]
2. Trautvetter U, et al. Effect of calcium phosphate and vitamin D₃ supplementation on bone remodelling and metabolism of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and iron. Nutr J. 2014 Jan 17;13:6.

[Laura WatkinsParticipant]

Thanks Brianna for looking into this! I agree with you both about the necessity of calcium and vit D in preventing osteoporosis. I read a study that looked into the effects of calcium through milk products on bone mineral content and bone mineral density. They found that bone mineral content and density in young adults is directly related to calcium through milk products. They also noted in this study, that in order to reach peak bone mass and prevent osteoporosis, calcium through milk must be consumed in childhood and adolescent years (1). So it is definitely important to drink your milk!

1 Stracke H, et al. Osteoporosis and bone metabolic parameters in dependence upon calcium intake through milk and milk products. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1993;47(9):617-622.

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