Dairy intakes affect bone density in the elderly.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Vitamin D in this randomized controlled trial publication.

This study related cross-sectional nutrient and dairy product consumption to hip BMD in white and black men and women aged >60 y and evaluated the influence of nutrient and dairy product consumption on changes in BMD in a white cohort participating in a calcium, vitamin D, or placebo trial.

Why It Was Studied

Race and sex differences in the effect of diet on bone mineral density (BMD) at the hip in the elderly are unknown.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 289 women were involved.

The age groups tagged for this paper are middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

The Health Habits and History Questionnaire was used in 289 white women and 116 white men who participated in the trial and in 265 black women and 75 black men to predict total hip and femoral neck BMD or changes in BMD.

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

The women were allocated by chance, so the Vitamin D group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the women nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Vitamin D, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some women received a placebo instead of Vitamin D, giving a reference point.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Age Factors, Aging, Black People, Bone Density, Bone Resorption, Calcium, Dietary and Cohort Studies.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D in 289 women.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2004 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the related Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc library page, all human trials.