Lee Swanson Research Update

Dietary Intake of Zinc can Affect Bone Mineral Density in Men

November 2004

zinc

Low zinc intakes and reduced plasma zinc concentrations have been associated with osteoporosis in women, but researchers have not really looked at the effects low zinc levels have on bone health in men.

Researchers at in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Grand Forks, ND decided to "examine the independent association between dietary zinc and plasma zinc and the association of each with bone mineral density (BMD) and four-year bone loss in community-dwelling older men."

Researchers looked at the Rancho Bernardo Study in which 396 men, age 45-92, completed BMD measurements at baseline in 1988-1992 and four years later. They discovered that men with osteoporosis at the hip and spine had lower dietary zinc intake and showed lower zinc concentrations in their blood than men who did not have osteoporosis at the hip and spine. They concluded that dietary zinc intake and plasma zinc each have a positive association with BMD in men.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition80(3):715-721, 2004

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