Carotenoids Are Linked to Fewer Hip Fractures in the Elderly
Lee Swanson Research Update
An intensive, 17-year study shows that increased intakes of antioxidant pigments may lower the risk of hip fracture in older men and women.
Of the individual carotenoids studied, lycopene was found to have the greatest protective effect, while beta-carotene had a weak association with fewer hip fractures, according to data published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
Researchers from Tufts University, Hebrew SeniorLife and Boston University, studied data from 370 Caucasian men and 576 Caucasian women with an average age of 75 participating in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study. The participants were followed for 17 years.
"We found protective associations of total carotenoid and lycopene intake with hip fracture and non-vertebral osteoporotic fracture over 17 years of follow-up," wrote the authors, led by Katherine Tucker. "We found that those consuming greater than 4.4 servings/week of lycopene had significantly fewer fractures."
The study supports similar findings from the same researchers published in January in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 89, pp. 416-424).
Tucker and co-workers measured the intakes of total and individual carotenoids, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene and lutein plus zeaxanthin. Intakes were assessed using a 126-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
Over the course of 17 years of follow-up, the researchers documented 100 hip fractures. The highest average intake of all carotenoids was associated with a significantly lower risk of hip fracture, said the researchers.
The researchers then looked at individual carotenoids and found that higher lycopene intake was associated with a lower risk of hip fracture and non-vertebral fracture. Furthermore, a weak but statistically un-significant protective trend was recorded for beta-carotene, but only for hip fractures.
"These results suggest a protective role of several carotenoids for bone health in older adults," the researchers concluded.
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research Published online ahead of print.
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