Abstract

The regular consumption of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCO3-PUFAs) results in general health benefits. The intake of LCO3-PUFAs has been reported to contribute to bone metabolism. We aimed to investigate the relationships between dietary intakes of LCO3-PUFAs and bone mineral density (BMD) in Spanish women aged 20–79 years old. A total of 1865 female subjects (20–79 years old) were enrolled, and lumbar (L2, L3, L3 and total spine), hip (femoral neck (FN), femoral trochanter (FT) and Ward’s triangle (WT)) bone mineral density (BMD) were measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Dietary intakes of total energy, calcium, vitamin D, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and n-6 fatty acids (linoleic acid (LA) and arachidonic acid (AA)) were assessed by a self-administered food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Spearman’s rank correlations between LCO3-PUFAs and BMD were estimated. Partial correlations controlling for age, weight, height, dietary calcium, vitamin D, menopausal status and energy were calculated. A multiple regression analysis was computed to assess significant associations with BMD in this population. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, there were positive correlations between ALA, EPA and DHA intake and BMD. According to the WHO diagnosis criteria for osteoporosis, in this population of normal and osteopenic women, the dietary intake of ALA was also significantly associated with BMD at the hip. In normal women, the dietary intake of DHA was also significantly associated with BMD at the lumbar spine. No significant associations between LCO3-PUFAs and BMD were detected in the lumbar spine of osteopenic or osteoporotic women. The dietary intake of LCO3-PUFAs was positively associated with BMD in Spanish women at both the hips and the lumbar spine. We highlight that the intake of LCO3-PUFAs is not significantly associated with BMD in osteoporotic women; however, the intake of LCO3-PUFAs seems to be positively associated with BMD at both the hips and the lumbar spine in normal and osteopenic women.

Highlights

  • The regular consumption of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCO3-PUFAs) results in general health benefits, highlighted by cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory actions, which make these fatty acids potentially beneficial for women’s health [1,2]

  • A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that studied the effect of LCO3-PUFAs on osteoporosis [10] did not find strong conclusions regarding LCO3-PUFAs and bone disease due to the small number and modest sample sizes of RCTs linking any potential benefit of LCO3-PUFAs on skeletal health to the concurrent administration of calcium [10]

  • Our study is one of the largest to examine the potential relationship between PUFA dietary intake and bone mineral density in Spanish women; we examined multiple n-3 (e.g., alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA)) associations with bone mineral density at seven anatomical sites

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Summary

Introduction

The regular consumption of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCO3-PUFAs) results in general health benefits, highlighted by cardiovascular, metabolic and inflammatory actions, which make these fatty acids potentially beneficial for women’s health [1,2]. The main sources of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are products of marine origin [2] (such as fatty fish (i.e., salmon, herring, mackerel, sardine, etc.)) and enriched foods (i.e., eggs) or supplements (i.e., fish oil capsules)[3]. Most cross-sectional studies show a benefit of LCO3-PUFAs or fatty fish on BMD in men and women [6,11,12,13,14] without an effect on fracture [10,12,15,16]

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