D-65 Clinical Case Slide - Aches and Pains

Abstract

Carbonated soft drinks (CSD) contain caffeine and phosphoric acid, which have been associated with low bone mineral density (BMD) levels in women. It is essential to know if the consumption of CSDs adversely affects bone mineral density, especially in young women. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the use of the Osteoporosis Risk Factor Assessment (ORFA), the Beverage Questionnaire (BQ), the Bone-specific Physical Activity Questionnaire (BPAQ) as tools for assessing the relationship of dairy intake, CSD consumption, and physical activity with BMD in college age women. METHODS: Nineteen 18-24 year old female college students were recruited from lecture classes. Dairy intake was provided through completion of the ORFA, CSD consumption was reported using the BQ, and physical acitvity through the BPAQ. Participants also received a DXA scan of the femur neck and lumbar spine. Pearson correlations were performed to determine relationships between dairy intake, CSD consumption, and physical activity with BMD. RESULTS: A weak, negative, non-significant relationship was found between diet CSDs and all measures of BMD (femur neck: r = -.36, spine: r = -.17, p > .05) . Regular CSDs also had a weak, negative, and non-significant relationship with BMD (r = -.08, spine: r = -.21 p > .05) . Diet, caffeine free CSDs were also found to have a weak, non-significant relationship with BMD (femur neck: r = -.02, spine: r = .18, p > .05). The only signifiant relationship found was with caffeine free regular CSDs and BMD of the femur neck (r = .55, p < .05) but not with the lumbar spine (r = .25, p > .05). CONCLUSION: It is determined that the ORFA, the BQ, and the BPAQ are acceptable tools for gathering data for this study. Analysis of the data collected in this pilot study suggests that consumption of caffeine containing CSDs has no significant effect on BMD. However, further research is warrented with larger sample groups.