SWAN data reveal no menopausal fracture, BMD benefit with dairy consumption
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Dairy intake was not associated with femoral and spine bone mineral density loss or risk for fractures across the menopausal transition, according to an analysis of data from the SWAN study.
“Dairy contains more bone-building nutrients than any other food group (e.g., protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, zinc and vitamin D),” Taylor Wallace, PhD, CFS, FACN, principal consultant at the Think Healthy Group and adjunct professor in the department of nutrition and food studies at George Mason University, told Healio. “Many cohort studies and clinical trials tend to assess the effects of dairy intake during the postmenopausal state, when a significant amount of bone density has already been lost due to hormonal changes during menopause.”
The study, published in Menopause, included data from a multiethnic group of premenopausal and perimenopausal women aged 42 to 53 years: 1,109 women were included in the 10-year loss of femoral neck BMD analysis and 1,097 were included in the 10-year BMD analysis for lumbar spine.
Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans were performed on participants annually with either the Hologic QDR 2000 Bone Densitometer or the QDR 4500A to collect data on BMD for both the femoral neck and lumbar spine.
At baseline and each of 10 annual follow-up visits, participants responded to questionnaire about numbers, sites and causes of bone fractures, the site for bone fractures. Only fractures at visits 7 through 10 were confirmed by medical records.
A modified block frequency questionnaire was given to participants at baseline, visit 5 and visit 9 to record eating habits and average consumption of food types during the past year. Researchers cumulatively averaged the number of daily dairy servings and total caloric intake over follow-up.
Participants were categorized into four groups based on average dairy consumption: less than 0.5 servings per day, between 0.5 and 1.5 servings per day, between 1.5 and 2.5 serving per day and more than 2.5 servings per day.
Wallace and colleagues observed no significant differences from baseline to 10 years among the four dairy intake groups for rate of BMD loss at the femoral neck and lumbar spine or for number of nontraumatic fractures, regardless of menopausal status at baseline.
“[Explaining] the effects of dairy on fractures [observed in this study] is easy: There just weren’t enough of them in the cohort to show an effect between groups,” Wallace said. “The women were also still relatively young ... fractures are more likely to occur later in life. It’s likely that we could do another analysis in 2030 and find completely different results. ... There is also a chance that dairy intake just doesn’t have a big impact on bone density during the menopause transition. I don’t believe this, but there is always the possibility and that’s why multiple studies with varying strengths and weaknesses are needed to make recommendations.”
For more information:
Taylor Wallace, PhD, CFS, FACN, can be reached at drtaylorwallace@gmail.com.
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