Background/Objectives: Evidence on the role of diet during adulthood and
beyond on fracture occurrence is limited. We investigated diet and hip
fracture incidence in a population of elderly Europeans, participants in
the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition study.
Subjects/Methods: 29 122 volunteers (10 538 men, 18 584 women) aged 60
years and above (mean age: 64.3) from five countries were followed up
for a median of 8 years and 275 incident hip fractures (222 women and 53
men) were recorded. Diet was assessed at baseline through validated
dietary questionnaires. Data were analyzed through Cox
proportional-hazards regression with adjustment for potential
confounders.
Results: No food group or nutrient was significantly associated with hip
fracture occurrence. There were suggestive inverse associations,
however, with vegetable consumption (hazard ratio (HR) per increasing
sex-specific quintile: 0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.85-1.01),
fish consumption (HR per increasing sex-specific quintile: 0.93, 95%
CI: 0.85-1.02) and polyunsaturated lipid intake (HR per increasing
sex-specific quintile: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.82-1.02), whereas saturated
lipid intake was positively associated with hip fracture risk (HR per
increasing sex-specific quintile: 1.13, 95% CI: 0.99-1.29). Consumption
of dairy products did not appear to influence the risk (HR per
increasing sex-specific quintile: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.93-1.12).
Conclusions: In a prospective study of the elderly, diet, including
consumption of dairy products, alcohol and vitamin D, did not appear to
play a major role in hip fracture incidence. There is however, weak and
statistically non-significant evidence that vegetable and fish
consumption and intake of polyunsaturated lipids may have a beneficial,
whereas saturated lipid intake a detrimental effect. European Journal of
Clinical Nutrition (2011) 65, 132-139; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2010.226;
published online 13 October 201