Relationship between Osteoporosis, Multiple Fractures, and Egg Intake in Healthy Elderly.

CONTEXT

The role of dietary patterns in the prevention of osteoporosis has been investigated in many studies, but few have examined the association between consumption of specific food and whole-body (WB) bone mineral density (BMD). Recent evidence suggests that whole eggs contain bioactive compounds that could have beneficial effects on BMD. BMD is also expressed as the T-score, which is used for the clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis and to evaluate the effectiveness of drugs.

AIMS

We conducted a study to assess the association between eggs consumption and bone density in a population of the elderly.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

This cross-sectional study included 176 individuals of both genders and aged ≥65 years.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Egg intake was ascertained by a combination of dietary intake assessment, and a dual X-ray absorptiometry scan was performed to measure WB T-score.

RESULTS

In our study, among all the food groups and nondietary factors evaluated, we find a positive association between the WB T-score and egg consumption (B = 0.02; = 0.02), gender (B = 0.85; < 0.001), and body mass index (B = 0.04; = 0.03). Multiple fractures were associated with the daily intake of eggs (B = ‒0.26; = 0.02) and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (B = 0.09; = 0.03).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides novel evidence of a positive link between whole egg consumption and bone health. If results observed in this study will be confirmed through future randomized controlled trials, whole eggs may represent a viable strategy to prevent osteoporosis and reduce the risk of fractures in the elderly.