Physical activity and calcium modalities for bone mineral increase in aged women

Abstract

The hypothesis was tested that physical activity and/or supplemental Ca (0.75 g/day) and vitamin D (400 IU) would effectively slow bone loss and/or increase bone mineral content (BMC) in aged females (81) over 3 yr. In vivo BMC and width of the radius was determined by photon absorptiometry at 2 sites. Four groups were formed: a control, a drug, a physical activity and a physical activity plus drug. A single tailed t-test was used to compare the slope of the linear regression of 10 data points collected on each subject. The BMC of the control group declined 3.29%, while the physical activity group and drug group demonstrated a 2.29% (P < 0.05) increase and a 1.58% (P < 0.07) increase, respectively, during the study.