Major dietary patterns and bone mineral density in postmenopausal Iranian women

Background: As the global elderly population increases, the prevalence of osteoporosis and the incidence of osteoporosis-related fractures are becoming a major social and medical concern in both developed and developing countries. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to examine association dietary pattern and bone health in postmenopausal women. Methods: In this study, 254 postmenopausal women aged 46 to 78 years were examined. Body composition measured by Body Composition Analyzer Physical activity using the short form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was performed. Bone mineral density was measured by DEXA method. Major dietary patterns were determined using factor analysis on 27 foods groups using a valid and reliable 147-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The major dietary patterns were identified by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method. Results: Three dietary patterns including the Mediterranean, Traditional and unhealthy patterns were identified. These three dietary patterns explained 30.45 % of total variance in dietary intakes. Our results showed that higher adherence score to a Mediterranean dietary pattern was positively associated with Z score L2_L4 lumbar spine (p> 0.05). Furthermore, logistic regression results showed that Mediterranean dietary pattern reduces the risk of osteopenia/ osteoporosis (OR = 0.75, 95%CI: 0.58 -0.96). However, Traditional (OR = 0.97, 95%CI: 0.76 -1.24) and Unhealthy (OR = 1.19, 95%CI: 0.93 -1.52) dietary patterns had no association with risk of osteopenia/ osteoporosis. Conclusion: It seems Mediterranean dietary pattern has a protective association against the risk of osteopenia/ osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.