Calcium and BMI

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Hi All,

The pdf-available below not yet in Medline paper suggests that the relation

between

calcium intake and our BMI may be a minor threshhold effect. Since funding was

from

the dairy industry, can we question the results?

" Body composition " means BMI.

N. Boon, L. L. J. Koppes, W. H. M. Saris, and W. Van Mechelen

The Relation between Calcium Intake and Body Composition in a Dutch Population:

The

Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study

Am. J. Epidemiol. 2005 162: 27-32

.... a cohort of men and women from age 13 years in 1977 to age 36 years in

2000.

Longitudinal linear regression analyses were performed with generalized

estimating

equations in continuous and categorical models, with adjustment for possible

confounders. Results showed that calcium intake during adolescence is a weak

predictor of calcium intake in adulthood. In this population, only a slight

indication was found of a weak inverse relation of calcium intake with body

composition. No differences were observed between the middle (800–1,200 mg/day)

and

high (>1,200 mg/day) groups of calcium intake, suggesting a threshold of

approximately 800 mg/day above which calcium intake has no additional beneficial

effect on body composition.

.... S4S, sum of four skinfolds

.... The linear regression results for the longitudinal relation between dietary

calcium intake and BMI and S4S are reported in table 2 for the continuous

estimate

of calcium and in table 3 for three categories of calcium intake. Only two

significant inverse associations were found. For men, in the age-adjusted model

shown in table 2, a 1,000-mg per day higher dietary calcium intake was related

to a

0.21-cm lower S4S (p = 0.004). The negative interaction with age indicates that

the

magnitude of this inverse relation is larger (the relation is more negative) at

older ages. For women, in the age-adjusted model shown in table 3, the highest

dietary calcium intake group (>1,200 mg/day) had a significantly lower S4S than

those consuming less than 800 mg of calcium per day (p = 0.04). A comparable

trend

was observed for BMI, but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.15). These

two

significant associations disappeared after adjustment for putative confounders.

.... In conclusion, the results of this investigation of relatively healthy

subjects

followed from age 13 to 36 years indicate a weak inverse relation of calcium

intake

with body composition. This finding may seem to be in contrast with that of

previous

investigations, where stronger inverse relations were found, but it may be

explained

by the fact that average calcium intake is much higher in the present population

than in those assessed in previous studies. There may be a threshold for calcium

intake above which no additive beneficial effect exists. In the present

investigation, this calcium intake threshold was about 800 mg per day.

This study was supported by a grant from the Dutch Dairy Association,

Zoetermeer,

the Netherlands.

Al Pater, PhD; email: old542000@...

__________________________________

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