[Milk, Daily products and Bone health.Effect of milks and daily products on bone health.]

Abstract

In Japan, nutrition education programs to prevent osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures have focused primarily on increasing dietary calcium intake and recommended the consumption of milk and dairy products. However, the effect of milk and dairy product consumption on bone density loss or fracture incidence in Japanese has rarely been evaluated in randomized controlled studies. In the present study, we reviewed the literature investigating the consumption of milk and dairy products in relation to bone density and fracture risk. The results showed that milk and dairy product consumption had only a modest effect in the prevention of midlife bone loss and subsequent fractures. However, given that infrequent(once weekly or less)consumption of milk may be associated with an increased risk of femoral neck fracture, and that Japanese generally have a lower calcium intake, it is still necessary to encourage elderly and younger adults to increase their consumption of milk and dairy products to promote bone health.