Home Meal Replacement Fortified with Eggshell Powder and Vitamin D Prevents Bone Loss in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Controlled Study

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 16; no. 8; p. 1152
• Main Authors: Joo, Nam-Seok, Shin, So-Hui, Kim, Kyu-Nam, Lee, Seok-Hoon, Jung, Susie, Yeum, Kyung-Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 12.04.2024; MDPI
• Subjects: Alfacalcidol; Analysis; Animals; blood; Body mass index; Bone density; Bone Density - drug effects; bone health; bone resorption; Bones; Calcifediol; calcium; Calcium, Dietary - administration & dosage; Carotenoids; Chronic illnesses; compliance; Convenience foods; Creatinine; Density; Diabetes; Diet; Dietary supplements; Double-Blind Method; Egg Shell; Esophagus; Female; femur; Food, Fortified; Fractures; Fruits; Home meal replacement; Hormone replacement therapy; Humans; Lactose; Meals; Metabolism; Middle Aged; milk; Nutrition research; Older people; Osteoporosis, Postmenopausal - prevention & control; Postmenopausal women; Postmenopause; Powders; Republic of Korea; Solvents; Thyroid gland; Vegetables; Vitamin D; Vitamin D - administration & dosage; Vitamin D - blood; Womens health; Republic of Korea; South Korea; China; United States > US; bone mineral density; parathyroid hormone; natural calcium
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu16081152

Calcium and vitamin D deficiencies have been ongoing problems in Koreans due to a lack of food sources of calcium and vitamin D. Postmenopausal women aged 50 to 64 years (n = 25) were randomly assigned to consume three home meal replacements (HMRs)/week with (treatment) and without (control) eggshell powder and vitamin D for 6 months. Additionally, subjects who agreed to continue the study consumed the same three HMRs/week for an additional 6 months in this randomized double-blind study. We confirmed the high compliance of the study participants by analyzing carotenoids, the bioactive substances of HMRs, in the blood. The treatment group consumed an additional 261 mg/d of calcium and 10.3 μg/d of vitamin D from the HMRs, thus meeting the recommended intakes of calcium and vitamin D for Koreans. As a result of consuming fortified HMRs for 6 months, the decline in femoral neck bone density was significantly reduced in the treatment group (p = 0.035). This study indicates that inexpensive eggshell powder may be a good source of calcium for populations with low consumption of milk and dairy products. Additionally, functional HMRs fortified with eggshell powder and vitamin D can be a good dietary strategy for bone health.