Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1459117

Sex differences in the association between dietary choline intake and total bone mineral density among adolescents aged 12 to 19 in the United States

Provisionally accepted
Shaoqun Huang Shaoqun Huang 1Jiecheng Jiang Jiecheng Jiang 2Seok Choi Seok Choi 3Hongyang Gong Hongyang Gong 3*
  • 1 Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
  • 2 Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, Hubei Province, China
  • 3 Chosun University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

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

    Background: While prior research has established a correlation between dietary choline intake and bone density in the elderly, the relationship in adolescents remains ambiguous. This study seeks to examine the association between dietary choline intake and bone density in American adolescents. Methods: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2005 to 2018 were used in this study, encompassing participants aged 12 to 19 years. The relationship between dietary choline intake and bone density was assessed using multivariate linear regression models and restricted cubic spline (RCS) models. Subgroup analyses were also performed to investigate differences across various subgroups. Results: 3,800 participants with an average age of 15 years were included in this study. After adjusting for relevant confounding factors, a positive correlation was observed between dietary choline intake and total bone density in adolescents (95% CI: 0.03-0.17, p=0.010). Gender-specific analysis indicated a significant positive correlation between dietary choline intake and total bone density in males (95% CI: 0.07-0.23, p<0.001), while no significant correlation was found in females (95% CI: -0.19-0.09, p=0.500). The stratified analysis revealed that the positive association was more pronounced in males and non-Hispanic whites (interaction p<0.05). The restricted cubic spline model demonstrated a linear positive correlation between dietary choline intake and total bone density.This study demonstrates that dietary choline intake levels are positively correlated with bone density in adolescents, with this association being specific to males.

    Keywords: Dietary choline intake, bone mineral density, sex differences, NHANES, adolescents

    Received: 03 Jul 2024; Accepted: 08 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Huang, Jiang, Choi and Gong. 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: Hongyang Gong, Chosun University, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.