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Impact of dairy products and dietary calcium on bone mineral content in children: Results of a meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Huncharek MIchael,
Muscat Joshua,
Kupelnick Bruce
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.458.4
Subject(s) - calcium , medicine , vitamin d and neurology , bone mineral , randomized controlled trial , bone mineral content , meta analysis , zoology , vitamin , food science , osteoporosis , chemistry , biology
Objective: Although calcium is essential for maintaining bone health in children, the optimum dietary intake of calcium in this age group, particularly in the form of dairy foods, is a matter of debate. A meta‐analysis was conducted to examine the impact of dietary calcium/dairy supplementation on bone mineral content in this age group. Methods: Data were pooled from randomized controlled intervention trials and observational studies using previously described methods. The outcome of interest was a summary mean difference bone mineral content. Results: Combining data from twenty‐one randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using total body bone mineral content (TB‐BMC) as the outcome of interest, yielded a non‐statistically significant increase in TB‐BMC of 2 grams. These data demonstrated substantial statistical heterogeneity with sensitivity analyses revealing that among study subjects with normal or near normal baseline dietary calcium/dairy intakes, supplemental dairy/calcium showed little impact on bone mineral content. Sensitivity analyses suggested that baseline calcium intake could potentially account for the statistical heterogeneity. Pooling the three reports utilizing low intake subjects yielded a statistically significant summary mean BMC of 49 grams (24.0–76‐6). Pooling two RCTs using calcium/dairy supplement plus vitamin D was also associated with an increase in lumbar spine BMC of, on average, 35g (−6.8–41.8). Conclusion: Increased dietary calcium/dairy products, with and without vitamin D, significantly increases total body and lumbar spine BMC in children. Among children with “high baseline intakes” supplemental calcium/dairy products had little effect on TB‐BMC.