A recent study published within the journal Nutrients explores the role of various dietary patterns in protecting older people from osteoporosis and related fractures.

Study: Association of Alternative Dietary Patterns with Osteoporosis and Fracture Risk in Older People: A Scoping Review. Image Credit: Art_Photo / Shutterstock.com

What’s osteoporosis?

Aging impacts bone health and hormone levels, which could reduce bone mineral density (BMD). Osteoporosis, a bone disease related to lowered BMD and bone mass, increases the danger of fractures.

Osteoporosis is a major reason for illness and death amongst older people and appears to affect more women than men. Current estimates indicate that over 200 million people have osteoporosis, which has grow to be one of the vital common non-communicable diseases on the earth. Osteoporosis could be treated effectively, even prevented, but is usually not detected before a fall or fracture.

Identifying aspects that prevent bone density loss and fractures might help create guidelines to cut back osteoporosis risk. For instance, modifying diets could reduce the burden of the disease.

Nutritionists have established that consuming more fruits, vegetables, and seafood could be useful. Mediterranean diets (MD) and diets including foods with lower Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores even have a protective effect; nevertheless, the potential advantages of other dietary patterns haven’t been studied thoroughly.

In regards to the study

Although most previous studies used traditional MD scores to find out the impact of MD on osteoporotic fracture risk in Mediterranean populations, traditional MD ingredients aren’t all the time available in other regions of the world. Consequently, the authors of the current study examined the modified MD (mMED) and alternative MD (aMED), in addition to other traditional dietary patterns akin to Nordic or Chinese diets.

Various scoring systems of dietary quality are currently available, akin to the Alternative Health Eating Index (AHEI), Healthy Eating Index (HEI), Baltic Sea Weight loss program (BSD), and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), each of which was evaluated on this study. These dietary scoring systems treat different components akin to meat products, dairy, fats, and sodium in another way.

A comprehensive literature review was performed using Embase, Medline, and Scopus databases to discover scientific articles published between 2000 and 2022. All papers were based on original research that studied the connection between different diets and osteoporosis and its symptoms.

Each of the chosen studies for the review was observational and used a cross-sectional or prospective cohort design. Study participants were over 50 years of age and might be of any ethnicity or race.

The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) were applied for the present review. The initial search yielded 507 results, which ultimately led to the identification of six relevant papers for the evaluation.

From these articles, information related to participant characteristics, sample sizes, weight loss program scores, dietary findings, and results were obtained. This information was examined through a descriptive synthesis and a multivariable-adjusted evaluation.

Study findings

Two of the six studies were cross-sectional, whereas the others were prospective cohort studies, all published after 2015. The study populations were European, American, and Asian and between the ages of fifty to 85 years.

The sample sizes varied widely, with the smallest comprising lower than 1,000 individuals and the best greater than 10,000. Two studies examined BMD as an end result, while others examined hip and other osteoporotic fractures. Medical data was either self-reported or obtained from patient registers.

Two of the studies examined the association between weight loss program rating and osteoporosis or BMD. To this end, no relationship between bone density and BSD scores or DASH scores was reported.

Nonetheless, stricter adherence to the DASH guidelines reduced the probability of developing lumbar spine osteoporosis. The DASH weight loss program was related to a lower lumbar and femoral neck BMD than the BSD.

4 studies investigated the link between weight loss program scores and osteoporotic fractures. Furthermore, following the mMED or aMED diets reduced the danger of hip fractures in each Swedish and American cohorts. Although other diets didn’t show the identical relationship, higher adherence was more protective than lower adherence.

Conclusions

The study findings provide necessary insights into how healthy diets, besides the well-known Mediterranean weight loss program, can prevent bone density loss and osteoporotic fractures. Nevertheless, further studies are needed to create holistic health guidelines.

Likewise, future observational studies should follow study participants from many races, ethnicities, and geographies over more prolonged periods of time. Future studies must also aim to be consistent regarding sample sizes and age limits in order that findings could be compared. Regional diets must also be included.

A healthy weight loss program alone is insufficient for stopping osteoporosis, as several studies have emphasized the necessary role of exercise in stopping osteoporosis. Thus, combining weight loss program and exercise could decrease the danger of fractures and improve osteoporosis outcomes.