“A holistic dietary approach, which examines the effect of dietary patterns in terms of chronic disease prevention and treatment, compared with the assessment of single nutrients, foods, or food groups may be a more valuable approach in studying associations between diet and biological markers” write Meropi Kontogianni (Harokopio University, Athens) and colleagues in the journal Nutrition.
Using the holistic approach, Kontogianni and team examined whether adherence to a Mediterranean diet or other dietary patterns has any significant impact on BMD in a sample of adult Greek women.
The researchers measured lumbar spine BMD and total body bone mineral content (TBBMC) in 220 women using dual X-ray absorptiometry.
Food intake was assessed using 3-day food records and adherence to the Mediterranean diet was evaluated through a Mediterranean diet score.
Adherence to a Mediterranean diet was not found to have any significant effect on BMD but a dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of fish and olive oil and low intake of red meat correlated positively with lumbar spine BMD and TBBMC, after controlling for confounding factors.
Summarizing, the authors caution: “Observational studies of diet–disease associations cannot fully explore lifetime dietary intake or dietary change and cannot completely exclude confounding [factors] if a dietary pattern co-varies with a more healthy diet (eg more calcium) or another healthy lifestyle pattern (eg, more exercise).”
They conclude: “A dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of fish and olive oil and low red meat intake was associated with higher BMD and TBBMC in our sample of adult women, suggesting potential bone-preserving properties of this eating pattern throughout adult life.”