Milk consumption and bone mineral density in middle aged and elderly women

Abstract

Objectives : To study the effects of historical milk consumption on current bone mineral density at the hip and spine. Design : Cross sectional study. Subjects : 284 community based women aged 44-74 years recruited from four general practice age-sex registers in Cambridge. Subjects categorised their average milk consumption up to age 25, from age 25-44, and from age 44 to the present time as >=1 glass/day, 1 glass/week, or Main outcome measures : Bone mineral density at the hip and spine measured by dual energy x ray absorptiometry. Results - Data on milk consumption up to age 25 years were available for 252 women. There was a consistent upward trend in bone mineral density at all sites with increasing historical milk consumption (total hip, femoral neck, trochanter, intertrochanter, PConclusion : Frequent milk consumption before age 25 favourably influences hip bone mass in middle aged and older women.