Association between calcium ingested from drinking water and femoral bone density in elderly women: Evidence from the EPIDOS cohort

Although the main source of dietary calcium is dairy products, the calcium contained in mineral water, which is as available as that of milk, could pr ovide a valuable source of calcium. We analyzed the data from the EPIDOS mu lticenter study to evaluate the relationship between both dietary calcium a nd that supplied by drinking water and bone density measured at the femoral neck by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, The study included 4434 women ov er 75 years of age who had not received any treatment likely to interfere w ith calcium metabolism. A significant correlation was found between total c alcium intake and bone density at the femoral neck (r = 0.10, p < 0.001), A fter adjustment for the main variables influencing bone density, an increas e of 100 mg/day in calcium from drinking water was associated to a 0.5% inc rease in femoral bone density, while a similar increase in dietary calcium from other sources only led to a 0.2% increase; however, this difference wa s not significant. The consumption of calcium-rich mineral water may be of interest, especially in older women who consume little calcium from dairy p roducts.