ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1559674
This article is part of the Research TopicFoods, Dietary Supplements, and Herbal Products Treating the Diseases of the 21st Century: Moving from Traditional to Scientific Research: Volume IIView all 21 articles
The Mediating Role of Caffeine and Biological Age in the Association Between Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota and Osteoporosis
Provisionally accepted
- Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China
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The Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota (DI-GM) is a novel metric developed to evaluate the diversity of intestinal microbiota. However, its relationship with osteoporosis remains uncertain.Methods: This study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) conducted between 2007 and 2018. The DI-GM score was derived from two 24-hour dietary recall interviews, while bone mineral density (BMD) was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (QDR 4500A). Osteopenia and osteoporosis were diagnosed according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) were calculated through direct standardization to the 2000 U.S. standard population. Additionally, the study employed multivariate logistic regression, restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis, mediation analysis, and subgroup analysis to explore the data comprehensively.Results: Weighted logistic regression analysis revealed that higher DI-GM scores were significantly negatively associated with the risk of osteoporosis. Compared to the Q1 group, the Q4 group exhibited a significantly reduced risk of osteoporosis (OR = 0.781, 95% CI: 0.693-0.869). RCS curve analysis identified a nonlinear relationship between DI-GM and osteoporosis, with a critical inflection point at 3.9. Mediation analysis demonstrated that Phenotypic Age (PA), Klemera-Doubal Method (KDM) and caffeine mediated 4.73%, 4.55%, and 20.33% of the association between DI-GM and osteoporosis, respectively. Furthermore, age-standardized incidence rate analysis showed that the ASIR of osteoporosis was highest among women aged 60-79 years (65.09%). The ASIR for Non-Hispanic Black individuals was significantly lower compared to other racial groups.Higher DI-GM scores were associated with a reduced risk of developing osteoporosis, with biological age and caffeine serving as mediators in this relationship.
Keywords: NHANES, Dietary Index for Gut Microbiota (DI-GM), Osteoporosis, Caffeine, biological age
Received: 13 Jan 2025; Accepted: 19 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 zhang, Jingyuan and cao. 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: Hong cao, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, China
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