Abstract

To delineate the relationship between the nutrient intake from diet and the serum biochemical markers of bone metabolism, 56 postmenopausal women of 50 to 77 years of age were recruited. The biochemical markers including osteocalcin, calcium, phosphorus, estradiol and free testosterone were measured in fasting blood. Bone mineral density(BMD) was measured also by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and the nutrient intake of earth individual subject was estimated by 24-hour recall of 3 days. The age of the subjects was 64.8 +/- 7.7 years, and the BMDs of the subject were 0.86 +/- 0.26g/cm2(Lumbar spine), 0.60 +/- 0.10g/cm2 (Femoral neck), 0.49 +/- 0.10g/cm2(Trochanter), and 0.41 +/- 0.14g/cm2(Ward's triangle). There were no significant differences among age and nutrient intake level groups due to the small sample size. The biochemical markers showed certain degree of relationship with nutrient intake levels. The results were compared among 3 groups with different nutrient intake level classified by the percentage of Recommended Daily Allowances(RDA) for Koreans as follows low < 75% RDA, 75% RDA < or = adequate< 125% RDA, high > or = 125% RDA. The low energy and low riboflavin groups showed significantly higher serum osteocalcin levels than those of the high intake groups(p<0.05). On the other hand, there was a trend for serum Ca level to be higher with high nutrient intake. In this case, protein and thiamin were the only nutrients that reached a statistical significance(p<0.05). And the groups with low intake for protein and Ca showed significantly lower serum free testosterone levels than that of other intake groups(p<0.05). This study suggests an important role of nutrient intake levels on blood biochemical markers of bone metabolism.

• Keywords: postmenopause; osteocalcin; calcium; estradiol; testosterone