Study on the Correlation between Dietary Patterns and Bone Health among Rural Elderly People in Qingdao

Haoran Chang¹Wenchao Han²Jiafei Li¹Dazhi Jiao¹Fangyu Liu¹Tianlin Gao¹Wenjing Zhu²Jianbao Gong^2*

• ¹Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China
• ²Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between dietary patterns and bone health in the elderly, and to guide the elderly to establish a reasonable dietary pattern and improve bone health. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 544 elderly individuals aged 60 and above in rural areas of Qingdao. Dietary patterns were analyzed using factor analysis. A logistic regression model was employed to assess the relationship between dietary patterns and osteoporosis. The correlation between body composition and T-score was analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation method in the R software. Results: A total of four main dietary patterns were identified in this study, which included a balanced dietary pattern, a high-protein dietary pattern, a condiment dietary pattern, and a snack dietary pattern. After adjusting for potential confounding factors (age, residence status), it was found that a high-protein dietary pattern was positively correlated with bone health at the Q3 level (OR (95%CI) 0.435(0.190,0.997), but not correlated at the Q4 level. The high-protein dietary pattern was significantly positively correlated with several body composition parameters, including intracellular fluid, extracellular fluid, total body water, protein, muscle mass, minerals, fat-free mass, skeletal muscle, left-hand muscle mass, right-hand muscle mass, and trunk muscle mass (all P < 0.05). Additionally, these body composition factors were positively correlated with osteoporosis T-scores. Conclusion: There is a correlation between dietary patterns and osteoporosis; a moderate amount of the highprotein dietary pattern is beneficial to the bone health of the elderly.