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The relationship of dietary calcium intake to radiographic bone density in normal and osteoporotic persons

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Abstract

Lifetime daily calcium intake was estimated through interview of 398 individuals from 15 to 90 years of age. The correlation of calcium intake with vertebral mineralization as determined by quantitative radiographic densitometry was low but persistently significant.

In 53 persons with osteoporosis matched by age with 53 individuals from the control group, vertebral mineralization values were 60% lower than those of the control group, and the mean estimated total calcium intake in osteoporotics was 21% lower. In those persons reporting a single lifetime calcium intake, the control patients ingested almost twice as much calcium as those with osteoporosis.

A mean decrease in calcium intake with advancing years has been shown. Evidence points to a decrease in calcium absorption with age, osteoporosis, or both, as well as a greater need for calcium intake in the elderly to maintain a positive calcium balance.

Regardless of the intricacies of calcium homeostasis, a negative calcium balance leads eventually to greater bone resorption than formation, hence the rationality of insuring an adequate calcium intake with recognized nutritional needs. Evidence suggests that many factors are involved in the etiology and pathogenesis of osteoporosis; the data in this report support the likelihood that availability of calcium in the diet is one of them.

Résumé

L'ingestion quotidienne de calcium of été déterminée en interrogeant 398 individus, âgés de 15 à 90 ans. Le rapport entre l'ingestion de calcium et la minéralisation vertébrale, mesurée par densitométrie radiographique quantitative, est fiable mais cependant significatif.

Chez 53 personnes, atteintes d'ostéoporose, comparées à un nombre égal d'individus, d'âges similaires, les valeurs de la minéralisation vertébrale sont 60 pour cent plus faibles que celles du groupe témoin. L'ingestion totale moyenne de calcium est plus faible de 21 per cent chez les ostéoporotiques. Chez les sujets, à ingestion unique de calcium, les patients du groupe témoin ingèrent preque le double de calcium que le groupe des ostéoporotiques.

Une diminution moyenne de l'ingestion calcique est notée avec l'âge. Il semble qu'il existe une diminution de l'absorption calcique avec l'âge, l'ostéoporose ou les deux, ainsi qu'un besoin plus grand en calcium chez les sujets âgés pour assurer l'équilibre en calcium.

Indépendamment de l'homéostase calcique, un équilibre négatif en calcium augmente la résorption osseuse, et diminue l'ostéogenèse. De nombreux facteurs interviennent dans l'étiologie et la pathogénie de l'ostéoporose: les résultats de cette étude indique que la présence de calcium alimentaire est l'un de ces facteurs.

Zusammenfassung

Die tägliche Calciumeinnahme wurde anhand einer Befragung von 398 Personen im Alter von 15–90 Jahren geschätzt. Die Korrelation der Calciumeinnahme und der Mineralisation der Wirbelsäule, wie sie röntgenologisch durch quantitative Messung der Dichte festgestellt wurde, war niedrig, aber durchwegs signifikant.

Bei 53 Osteoporose-Patienten, die mit 53 Kontrollpersonen gleichen Alters verglichen wurden, waren die Mineralisationswerte der Wirbelsäule um 60% niedriger als jene der Kontrollgruppe, und die durchschnittlich geschätzte Gesamt-Calciumeinnahme der Osteoporotiker war um 21% tiefer. Von den Exploranden, die Angaben über eine gleichmäßige Calciumaufnahme machten, nahmen die Kontrollpersonen beinahe doppelt so viel Calcium ein als diejenigen mit Osteoporose. Im Durchschnitt wurde eine Verminderung der Calciumeinnahme mit fortschreitendem Alter festgestellt. Es ergibt sich deutlich, daß die Calciumabsorption mit dem Alter, bei Osteoporose oder in der Kombination dieser beiden Faktoren abnimmt, und daß eine größere Calciumeinnahme bei älteren Personen nötig wäre, um eine positive Calciumbilanz aufrechtzuerhalten.

Ungeachtet der Komplexität der Calciumhomöostase, kann eine negative Calciumbilanz schließlich dazu führen, daß mehr Knochen resorbiert als gebildet wird. Demzufolge sollte bei erkanntem Bedürfnis eine adäquate Calciumeinnahme gesichert sein. Es ist eine Tatsache, daß viele Faktoren an der Ätiologie und Pathogenese der Osteoporose beteiligt sind; die Resultate dieses Berichtes unterstützen die Wahrscheinlichkeit, daß das Calciumangebot in der Nahrung einer dieser Faktoren ist.

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Aided by grants from the Lahey Clinic Foundation and from the National Institutes of Health (Grants A-2641 and AM-7461).

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Hurxthal, L.M., Vose, G.P. The relationship of dietary calcium intake to radiographic bone density in normal and osteoporotic persons. Calc. Tis Res. 4, 245–256 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02279127

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02279127

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