Abstract

People in some countries have traditionally low consumption of fresh milk and dairy products in their diets. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of fortified meal with eggshell calcium and vitamin D on bone health between in postmenopausal women with osteopenia and those with normal bone mineral density. Twenty-five postmenopausal women were recruited in a six-month intervention study. Fortified meal kit (800 mg of calcium plus 2,000 IU of vitamin D per week) or conventional meal kit was applied to an osteopenia group (n = 18) and a normal bone density group (n = 7) by random allocation. Participants consumed a delivered meal kit three times a week. Mann-Whitney U test, non-parametric X² test, and non-parametric correlation analysis was performed to compare between two groups of bone mineral density and bone markers. Before and after six months, bone mineral density and bone markers were compared between the two groups. Bone mineral density of the femur neck was significantly increased in the osteopenia group (P = 0.043) than in the normal bone mineral density group (P = 0.629). However, there was no significant change in bone mineral density of lumbar vertebrae or total hip in either group (P = 0.829 vs. P = 0.173 or P = 0.229 vs. P = 0.400, respectively). In analysis between the changes of femur neck bone mineral density and bone markers in the osteopenia group, only parathyroid hormone showed a little tendency (P = 0.081). Six months of supplementation with eggshell calcium and vitamin D fortified meal increased bone mineral density of the femur neck in postmenopausal women with osteopenia. Adding dietary calcium and vitamin D to meal may improve the bone mineral density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia