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Associations of Copper Intake with Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis in Adults: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

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Abstract

Some studies have suggested an association between serum copper and bone density. Few studies have explored the association between copper intake and osteoporosis and bone mineral density (BMD). Our research aims to assess the associations of copper intake with the risk of osteoporosis in United States adults using the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys (NHANES). A total of 8224 individuals were included in our study. Osteoporosis was defined that BMD values surpass 2.5 standard deviations (SD) below the mean of the young adult reference group. Copper intake from diets and supplements was estimated by using two 24-h recall surveys. After adjustment for all the covariates of interest, the odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence interval (CI)) between the risk of osteoporosis and total copper intake across quartiles 3 and 4 compared with quartile 1 were 0.48 (0.31–0.74) (P < 0.01) and 0.41 (0.26–0.65) (P < 0.01), respectively. The mean total femur BMD and total spine BMD of the highest dietary copper intake quartile (Cu 1.51 mg/d) was 0.03 g/cm2 and 0.02 g/cm2 greater than the lowest quartile. Our results indicate that dietary and total copper intake was positively associated with increasing BMD in US adults and negatively associated with the risk of osteoporosis in US adults.

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Data Availability

The data of this study will be made available on reasonable request.

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The code of this study will be made available on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for sharing the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, Henan, People’s Republic of China

    Yonggang Fan, Shuangfei Ni & Huafeng Zhang

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  1. Yonggang Fan
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  2. Shuangfei Ni
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  3. Huafeng Zhang
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Contributions

H.F. Zhang and Y.G. Fan contributed to the conception of the study; S.F. Ni contributed significantly to analysis and manuscript preparation; H.F. Zhang, Y.G. Fan, and S.F. Ni performed the data analyses and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Huafeng Zhang.

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NHANES was approved by the National Center for Health Statistics Research Ethics Review Board.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Shuangfei Ni and Huafeng Zhang jointly supervised this work.

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Fan, Y., Ni, S. & Zhang, H. Associations of Copper Intake with Bone Mineral Density and Osteoporosis in Adults: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey . Biol Trace Elem Res 200, 2062–2068 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02845-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-021-02845-5

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