Recent epidemiological studies show that high intakes of
carotenoids might be useful to maintain bone health, but little is known about the association of serum
carotenoids with change of bone mineral density (BMD). The objective of this study was to investigate longitudinally whether serum
carotenoids are associated with bone loss.
METHODS: We conducted a follow-up on 146 male and 99 pre- and 212 post-menopausal female subjects from the Mikkabi study. Those who participated in previous BMD surveys and completed four years of follow-up were examined longitudinally.
RESULTS: During a 4-year follow-up, 15 of the post-menopausal female subjects developed new-onset
osteoporosis. In contrast, none of the male and pre-menopausal female subjects did. In male and pre-menopausal female subjects, the six serum
carotenoids at the baseline were not associated with bone loss. On the other hand, in post-menopausal female subjects, the 4-year bone loss of radius was inversely associated with the serum
carotenoid concentrations, especially in β-
carotene. After adjustments for confounders, the odds ratios (OR) for
osteoporosis in the highest tertiles of serum β-
carotene and β-
cryptoxanthin against the lowest tertiles were 0.24 (95% confidence interval 0.05-1.21) and 0.07 (CI: 0.01-0.88), respectively. Serum β-
cryptoxanthin was also inversely associated with the risk for
osteopenia and/or
osteoporosis (P for trend, 0.037). In addition, our retrospective analysis revealed that subjects who developed
osteoporosis and/or
osteopenia during the survey period had significantly lower serum concentrations of β-
cryptoxanthin and β-
carotene at the baseline than those in the normal group.
CONCLUSIONS: