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Effect of Milk Powder Supplementation with Different Calcium Contents on Bone Mineral Density of Postmenopausal Women in Northern China: A Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Trial

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the effect of milk powder supplementation with different calcium contents on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal Chinese women, and to determine a more appropriate dose of calcium supplementation. A 2-year, randomized controlled double-blind trial. Postmenopausal women (n = 210) aged 50–65 years were recruited and assigned randomly into three calcium supplementation groups. All participants received milk powder supplementation with different calcium contents (300, 600, and 900 mg per day for groups A, B, and C, respectively) and all groups received 800 IU of vitamin D per day. During the follow-up period, BMD of the left hip and lumbar spine (as the main indicator) was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at the baseline, 1 and 2 years. Both three BMD measures and the changes of BMD over 2 years were used to analyze. Before adjusting for covariates, BMD in group A of the lumbar spine and groups A and B of greater trochanter decreased significantly from the baseline over time but increased significantly in the rest groups of the lumbar spine and greater trochanter and in three groups of Ward’s triangle. There were significant differences across the three groups for changes of BMD in the greater trochanter and Ward’s triangle. When adjusting for covariates, there were significant decreases with time in group A of the spine (P = 0.001), groups A and B of greater trochanter (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.04, respectively) and increases in groups B and C of Ward’s triangle (P = 0.03 and P = 0.004, respectively). BMD change in the greater trochanter was significantly different among three groups. For healthy postmenopausal women, high calcium milk powder supplementation was better in retarding bone loss than medium and low calcium in the greater trochanter. Considering the dietary calcium intake of postmenopausal women in north of China, a dose of 900 mg/day is considered as the most appropriate calcium supplementation for greater trochanter but not for other sites.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [81273183].

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Correspondence to Meina Liu or Qiuju Zhang.

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Conflict of Interest

Yongjie Chen, Yaming Xiao, Biao Xie, Qiao Zhang, Xianfu Ma, Ning Li, Meina Liu, and Qiuju Zhang declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Meina Liu and Qiuju Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

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Chen, Y., Xiao, Y., Xie, B. et al. Effect of Milk Powder Supplementation with Different Calcium Contents on Bone Mineral Density of Postmenopausal Women in Northern China: A Randomized Controlled Double-Blind Trial. Calcif Tissue Int 98, 60–66 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-015-0065-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-015-0065-7

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