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Association of Calcium Intake and Adiposity in Postmenopausal Women

Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (C.J.H., S.E.S.)
Department of Health Sciences (L.C.), California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California

Address correspondence to: Cynthia J. Heiss, PhD, RD, Department of Health Professions, Metropolitan State College of Denver, Denver, CO 80217. E-mail: cheiss{at}mscd.edu

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between calcium intake and 1) body composition and 2) body fat distribution in postmenopausal women.

Methods: Archived data from a previous study including forty-nine Caucasian women, aged 51–73 and at least three years postmenopausal, were used for analysis. Data included medical and diet history from a questionnaire, average nutrient intake from computerized analysis of a 3-day diet record, anthropometric measures including height, weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Calcium intake represented both food and supplement sources of calcium. Lean and fat mass were determined from dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) total body scans, and abdominal fat mass was defined as fat mass between the top of the iliac crest and L1 on the DXA scan.

Results: Subjects were 60.5 ± 0.9 y/o with an average BMI of 26.9 ± 0.7 and percent body fat of 42.8 ± 1.2. Average calcium intake was 1151 ± 83 g/d. There was a significant inverse relationship between calcium intake and percent body fat (r = –0.36, p < 0.01) and abdominal fat mass (r = –0.25, p < 0.05), but there was no significant correlation between calcium intake and body mass index, fat mass, lean mass, waist circumference, or WHR. When kcalories were controlled, the inverse correlation between dietary calcium intake and percent body fat remained (r = –0.24, p < 0.05). Total fat was significantly greater (p < 0.05) in the low dairy intake (1–2 servings/d) vs. high dairy intake group (3–4 servings/d), but there were no significant differences between the groups in other body composition variables.

Conclusions: Increased calcium intake was associated with lower percent body fat and higher dairy intake was associated with lower fat mass in postmenopausal women, but there was no association between calcium intake and body fat distribution measures in this population.

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