Calcium intakes and femoral and lumbar bone density of elderly US men and women: National Health and Examination Survey 2005–2006 analysis

Objectives: This analysis was aimed at assessing the benefits of total calcium intake from diet and supplements on both femoral neck and lumbar vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) in a repre-sentative sample of older U.S. women and men. Design: For 1384 women and men aged 50–70 and 71 yr, quintiles of total calcium intake were tested for their association with hip and spine BMD after adjusting for body mass index. All data in this observational study were cross-sectional. Data Source: Subjects included elderly residents statistically representative of the United States, women and men aged 50 yr and older in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2006 cohort. Main Outcome Measures: Calcium intakes and femoral and lumbar BMD were evaluated. Results: Total calcium intakes ranged frommeans of 400mg/d in quintile 1 to 2100 in quintile 5. Little difference in hip or lumbar BMD was found in relation to total calcium consumption in women andmen across five quintiles, especially for those aged 50–70, inmodels adjusted for body mass index only. Femoral hip BMD inmen 71 and older increased slightly with high calcium intake (3.6%higher density, P 0.0391),whereas femoral BMD inwomen71 andolder decreased slightl