COMPARATIVE CHANGES IN RADIAL-BONE DENSITY OF ELDERLY FEMALE LACTOOVOVEGETARIANS AND OMNIVORES

A 5-y prospective study of the changes in radial-bone mineral density (BMD) of elderly white women (mean age, 81 y) living in four residenti al communities, including 49 Seventh-day Adventist lactoovovegetarians and 140 omnivores, was undertaken to determine the potential effects of usual dietary calcium in preventing the loss of BMD, measured by si ngle-photon absorptiometry, at two radial sites. Changes in BMD and ot her variables from baseline (1983) to follow-up (1988) were: 1) mean c alcium intakes in 1988 of 996 mg/d for omnivores and 733 mg/d for lact oovovegetarians changed little from 1983, 2) all women lost BMD (P < 0 .05) over the 5 y period, 3) the annual BMD loss rates were approximat e to 1% at each site, 4) BMD loss was independent of calcium intake, 5 ) BMD loss rates were similar in both lactoovovegetarians and omnivore s, and 6) the greater the loss of lean body mass, the greater the BMD loss (P < 0.05).