A dietary pattern with high grain intake is associated with more bone mineral content increase in Korean girls

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the dietary patterns of Korean elementary school girls and whether dietary patterns are associated with bone mineral content (BMC) change. Elementary school girls aged 9–11 years were recruited and diet was assessed four times during the 22 months using 3‐day dietary records. Bone mineral contents (BMC) were measured at the beginning and end of the study using DEXA. Subjects with diet record for more than 8 days and two BMC data were included in data analysis (n=198). BMC increased by 16.7±42.8% during the 22 months. To derive dietary pattern, 8 days diet records per subjects were randomly selected and food items were aggregated into 22 food groups. Four dietary patterns were identified on the basis of percent frequency per food group by exploratory factor analysis. One of the factors was loaded heavily on grains, nuts, seeds, vegetable, eggs and seaweeds food group and called high grain (HG) pattern. Factor score for HG pattern was negatively correlated with energy (p<0.0001) and sugar intake (p<0.05). In regression analyses with % change in BMC as the dependent variable, HG score was a significant predictor (β=6.52455; p<0.05), with baseline BMC (β=5.93521; p<0.05), with baseline BMC, energy intake and total frequency (β=6.72383; p<0.05). A dietary pattern rich in grains, nuts, seeds and vegetable dietary pattern may lead to accumulate the bone mineral contents in Korean girls.