Changes in Bone Mineral Density and Trabecular Bone Score over Time between Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Middle-Aged and Older Women: A Three-Year Retrospective Medical Record Review

Tzyy-Ling Chuang, Malcolm Koo, Mei-Hua Chuang, Chun-Hung Lin, Chin-Huan Huang and Yuh-Feng Wang
Additional contact information
Tzyy-Ling Chuang: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi 622401, Taiwan
Malcolm Koo: Graduate Institute of Long-Term Care, Tzu Chi University of Science and Technology, Hualien 970302, Taiwan
Mei-Hua Chuang: School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 970374, Taiwan
Chun-Hung Lin: School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien 970374, Taiwan
Chin-Huan Huang: Department of Nutrition Therapy, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi 622401, Taiwan
Yuh-Feng Wang: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital, Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Foundation, Chiayi 622401, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: The effect of a vegetarian diet on bone health remains controversial. This retrospective medical record review compared changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and trabecular bone score (TBS) between vegetarian and non-vegetarian middle-aged and older women who underwent two general health examinations (T1 and T2) that were approximately three years apart. Generalized estimating equations were used to compare the change in lumbar spine and bilateral hip BMD and TBS over time. At T1, the mean age of the patients was 56.6 years (standard deviation 9.7 years) and the mean interval between T1 and T2 was 2.7 years. For women aged 40–55 years, compared with non-vegetarians, vegetarians were significantly associated with a larger reduction in lumbar spine BMD ( p < 0.001) and left hip femoral neck BMD ( p = 0.015) over the three-year interval. On the contrary, changes in BMD were not significant at any site in women aged ≥ 56 years. Moreover, the changes in BMD and TBS over the three-year interval did not significantly differ between vegetarian and non-vegetarian women aged 65–90 years. In conclusion, for women aged 40–55 years, vegetarian diets reduced bone quantity, as measured by BMD, but not bone quality, as measured by TBS.

Keywords: vegetarian; dietary habit; bone mineral density; trabecular bone score; women (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2445/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2445/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2445-:d:753994

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().