Association between dietary zinc intake amount and prevalence of osteoporosis in middle-aged and elderly individuals: a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Objectives: This study was aimed to explore the link between dietary zinc intake amount and prevalence of osteoporosis in middle-aged and elderly individuals.

Methods: A total of 31,034 participants included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2010 were detected, and 7355 participants aged ≥ 45 years with integral data were enrolled. Demographic information and dietary intake data were collected via platform of NHANES, and the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of each dietary zinc intake amount tertile category and each unit increase of zinc were analyzed using logistic regression models. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to determine the optimal cut-off value of dietary zinc intake amount for revealing the prevalence of osteoporosis.

Results: Of 7355 participants with a mean age of 62.5 ± 11.2 years, 682 participants with osteoporosis were identified, and the dietary zinc intake amount of the osteoporosis group was significantly lower than that of the non-osteoporosis group (P < 0.001). By taking the lowest tertile category as reference category, a higher dietary zinc intake amount was noticed to be positively linked to lower odds for prevalence of osteoporosis. This tendency was not altered in univariate model (P < 0.001), as well as the adjustments for combination of different covariates (Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, and Model 4, P all < 0.05).

Conclusion: This NHANES-based study revealed that a lower dietary zinc intake amount was positively correlated to the prevalence of osteoporosis in middle-aged and elderly individuals among the US population.