This Diet Reduces the Risk of Osteoporosis

A study published in Osteoporosis International found that the DASH (dietary approaches to stop hypertension) diet reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

The cross-sectional study included 151 postmenopausal Iranian women aged 50 to 85 years. Researchers measured lumbar spine and femoral neck bone mineral density (BMD) via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Postmenopausal osteoporosis was defined using the World Health Organization criteria as a BMD T-score of –2.5 or less standard deviations.

Patients completed a 168-item food frequency questionnaire to detail their dietary intake within the past year. The DASH score was then calculated based on energy-adjusted intakes of eight major dietary components usually emphasized (i.e., fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, low-fat dairy products, and whole grains) or minimized (i.e., sodium, sweets, and red or processed meats) in the DASH diet. A higher DASH score was associated with higher adherence to the DASH diet.

Per the multivariable-adjusted binary logistic regression analysis, participants in the highest tertile of DASH score had a lower risk of osteoporosis at the lumbar spine than those in the lowest tertile (odds ratio, 0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.09-0.88; P=0.029). The researchers did not observe a significant association between adherence to the DASH dietary pattern and risk of osteoporosis at the femoral neck.

“This is the first study to examine the association of adherence to the DASH dietary pattern and osteoporosis risk. [The] findings suggest the inverse association of adherence to the DASH dietary pattern and osteoporosis risk in postmenopausal Iranian women,” the researchers concluded.