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Milk intake and hip fracture incidence in community-dwelling old Icelandic adults

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Abstract

Summary

Milk and milk products have been known as important for bone health. Can ingestion of milk and milk products lower hip fracture risk for older adults? In this study, older Icelandic adults who were ingesting higher milk had a lower risk of hip fractures.

Introduction

This study describes associations between milk intake and hip fracture risk in older Icelanders. The data indicate that no/low milk consumption is related to greater hip fracture risk. Hip fracture can have a severe effect on the life of older adults. Health authorities recommend milk intake for better bone health. However, previous studies addressing this association have been divergent.

Methods

This prospective study included 4614 subjects (mean age 76 years) recruited between 2002 and 2006 into the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik (AGES-Reykjavik) study. Information on hip fractures occurring between recruitment and end of follow-up in 2012 was extracted from hospital records.

Results

A total of 14% of participants reported milk intake < 0.5 times/day (the lowest category) and 22% of the participants consumed at least milk two times/day (highest category). Milk consumption was positively related to the volumetric bone mineral density at baseline with a sex- and age-adjusted difference of 8.95 ± 2.5 mg/cm3 between the highest compared to lowest milk intake categories (P < 0.001). During the follow-up, 7.4% of participants had a hip fracture, and we observed a decreased risk of incident hip fractures in the highest compared to the lowest milk intake category with a hazard ratio of 0.69 (95% CI: 0.47–0.99) in adjusted model. Further analysis indicated a linear relationship between milk intake and fracture risk (P-value for linear trend < 0.001).

Conclusion

Milk intake is associated with a lower risk of incident hip fracture in a linear way in Icelandic community-dwelling older adults.

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Data Availability

Research data are not shared, but access may be granted upon request according to established procedures for the AGES-Reykjavik Study.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health–National Institute on Aging and the National Eye Institute (award ZIAEY000401). Also, this study was funded by the St. Josef’s Hospital Fund, Reykjavik, Iceland; the Landspitali; Geriatric Research Fund; and Sigridar Larusdottir Fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Icelandic Gerontological Research Institute, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sigrun S. Skuladottir

  2. Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sigrun S. Skuladottir, Laufey Steingrimsdottir, Thorhallur Halldorsson & Alfons Ramel

  3. Faculty of Nursing, University of Iceland, Eiríksgata, 101, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sigrun S. Skuladottir & Ingibjorg Hjaltadottir

  4. Laboratory of Epidemiology and Population Sciences, Intramural Research Program, National Institute On Aging, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Lenore Launer

  5. Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Mary-Frances Cotch

  6. Icelandic Heart Association Research Institute, Kopavogur, Iceland

    Kristin Siggeirsdottir

  7. Faculty of Medicine, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Vilmundur Gudnason & Gunnar Sigurdsson

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  1. Sigrun S. Skuladottir
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  2. Ingibjorg Hjaltadottir
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Correspondence to Sigrun S. Skuladottir.

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Skuladottir, S.S., Hjaltadottir, I., Launer, L. et al. Milk intake and hip fracture incidence in community-dwelling old Icelandic adults. Osteoporos Int 34, 1951–1959 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-023-06883-8

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