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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1485095
This article is part of the Research Topic Nutrition in Bone Health and Aging View all 3 articles

Vitamin K Intake Levels are Associated with Sex and Bone Health in People Aged Over 50 Years: A NHANES-Based Survey

Provisionally accepted
Jiankui Guo Jiankui Guo 1Ziqi Zhou Ziqi Zhou 2Jie Gong Jie Gong 1Wen Hu Wen Hu 1*Yuan Liu Yuan Liu 1*
  • 1 Department of Clinical Nutrition, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
  • 2 Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Bone health is important for older adults, and vitamin K (VK) is central to regulating bone formation and promoting bone health. However, whether VK can reduce the risk of osteoporosis and bone loss is unclear. This study hypothesized that different levels of VK intake exert varying effects on bone health in people aged over 50 years. Methods: Individuals aged above 50 years were recruited from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. VK intake, based on 24-h dietary recall, was divided into three groups, namely the high, medium, and low groups, by sex and tertile. Weighted multiple logistic regression was used to investigate the effects of VK intake on the risk of osteoporosis and bone loss at the femoral neck, trochanter, intertrochanter, total femur, lumbar spine, and overall. Results: This study included 5,075 individuals. Of them, 1,001 (18%) had osteoporosis (808 women, 83%) and 2,226 (46%) had osteopenia (1,076 women, 54%). Overall, a medium level of VK intake was associated with a reduced risk of bone loss. In women, medium- [odds ratio, OR(95% confidence interval, CI): 0.66(0.47, 0.93)] and high-level [OR(95%CI): 0.71(0.52, 0.98)] VK intake were associated with a decreased risk of osteoporosis. In contrast, only medium-level VK intake was associated with a reduced risk of bone loss [OR(95%CI): 0.58(0.41, 0.81)]. Similar results were obtained for the trochanter, intertrochanter, total femur, and lumbar spine. In men, only medium-level VK intake was associated with a reduced risk of bone loss at the femoral neck [OR(95%CI): 0.66(0.48, 0.90)], whereas high-level VK intake corresponded to a reduced risk of bone loss to the lumbar spine [OR(95%CI): 0.68(0.47, 0.99)]. Nonetheless, VK intake levels did not affect the risk of osteoporosis. Conclusions: This study demonstrates sex- and bone-site-specific variations in the associations between VK intake levels and bone health in individuals aged over 50 years. Further large-scale cohort studies or randomized controlled trials are warranted to explore the effects of different VK intake levels on bone health in people regardless of their sex and bone site.

    Keywords: Vitamin K, Osteoporosis, bone loss, Bone health, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NHANES

    Received: 23 Aug 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Zhou, Gong, Hu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Wen Hu, Department of Clinical Nutrition, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
    Yuan Liu, Department of Clinical Nutrition, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China

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