Post-menopausal osteoporosis: do body composition, nutritional habits, and physical activity affect bone mineral density?

Aim: to evaluate the effect of body composition, nutritional habits (NH), and physical activity (PA) levels on bone mineral density (BMD) in osteoporotic postmenopausal women (OPW). Subjects and method: the demographic characteristics, anthropometric measurements, PA status, information on NH, some biochemical findings, and BMD measurements of 100 OPWs were evaluated.

Results

in this study, 48 % of the women were classified as obese. The obese women were found to have lower vitamin D levels and higher parathyroid hormone levels than those of the over-weight women. A positive correlation was found between body mass index and L1L4, L2L4, and femur BMD (r = 0.268, p < 0.001; r = 0.241, p < 0.01; r = 0.369, p < 0.001, respectively). There was a significant decrease in L1L4 and femur BMD with increasing age (r = -0.224, p < 0.05; r = -0.366, p < 0.001, respectively). Femur BMD showed a positive correlation with duration (hours/week) and frequency of PA (days/week). According to the logistic regression analysis, body weight, daily tea consumption, and PA were positively associated with femur BMD, while advanced age, the age of menarche, salt and coffee consumption, and postmenopausal fracture status were negatively associated.

Conclusion

we observed that body weight, some nutritional factors, and active lifestyle have seemed to effect BMD in OPWs. An adequate, balanced nutrition maintaining the ideal weight, and regular physical activity may improve bone health in OPWs.