The effects of different levels of calcium supplementation on the bone mineral status of postpartum lactating Chinese women: a 12-month randomised, double-blinded, controlled trial

Abstract

Increasing dietary Ca intake may prevent the excessive mobilisation of bone mineral in nursing mothers. We aimed to investigate whether higher Ca intake could positively modulate the bone mineral changes in Chinese postpartum lactating women. The study was a 12-month randomised, double-blinded, parallel group trial conducted over 12 months. A total of 150 postpartum women were randomly selected to receive either 40 g of milk powder containing 300 mg of Ca and 5 μg of vitamin D (Low-Ca group) or same milk powder additionally fortified with 300 mg of Ca (Mid-Ca group) or 600 mg of Ca (High-Ca group). Bone mineral density (BMD) for the whole body, the lumbar spine, the total left hip and its sub-regions was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. A total of 102 subjects completed the whole trial. The duration of total lactating time was 7·9 (SD 2·8) months on average. The intention-to-treat analysis yielded the following mean percentage changes in BMD for the whole body, the lumbar spine and the total left hip, respectively: -0·93 (SD 1·97), 2·11 (SD 4·90) and -1·60 (SD 2·65)% for the Low-Ca group; -0·56 (SD 1·89), 2·21 (SD 3·77) and -1·43 (SD 2·30)% for the Mid-Ca group; and -0·44 (SD 1·67), 2·32 (SD 4·66) and -0·95 (SD 4·08)% for the High-Ca group. The differences between the groups were not statistically significant (P: 0·5-0·9). The results of the complete case analysis were similar. In sum, we found no significant differences in the bone mineral changes from baseline to 12 months in postpartum lactating women consuming milk powder fortified with different levels of Ca.

Keywords: BMC bone mineral content; BMD bone mineral density; Bone mineral density; Calcium; Chinese; Milk; Postpartum women.