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Topical Area: Community and Public Health Nutrition

Community and Public Health Nutrition (Poster Session)

(P24-014-23) Dietary Vitamin D Intake and Its Correlation With Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in US Children Ages 8–14 From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data (2017–2018)

Monday, July 24, 2023
12:45 PM – 1:45 PM ET
Location: Poster Board 426

    Presenting Author(s)

  • AB

    Abby Benham, BS

    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • WL

    Wei Li, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
    Little Rock, Arkansas, United States

Disclosure(s):
Wei Li, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.


Objectives: This study aimed to assess dietary vitamin D intake levels of children ages 8-14 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) dataset from 2017-2018 and evaluate the correlation between dietary vitamin D intake and bone mineral density (BMD) of a weight-bearing and a non-weight-bearing bone. We hypothesized that the children in this NHANEs sample do not meet recommended dietary allowance (RDA) standards for vitamin D intake recommendations (15 mcg/600 IU) and the children who consumed greater levels of vitamin D would have higher BMD of a weight-bearing bone.

Methods: Data from the 24-hour dietary recall as well as the laboratory screening portion (duel x-ray absorptiometry scan to examine BMD) of NHANES 2017-2018 data set were used. A one-sample t-test was ran to compare reported intakes of vitamin D to the RDA. Furthermore, a linear regression was ran using BMD as the dependent variable. We calculated whether vitamin D intake can predict BMD in weight-bearing bones (lumbar spine) and non-weight-bearing bones (left arm) in children ages 8-14.

Results: Our results showed that the dietary vitamin D intake in the NHANES sample (788 children) was not meeting the RDA of vitamin D. The linear regressions showed that higher vitamin D intake was negatively correlated with the BMD of a group of weight-bearing bones (lumbar spine) and did not correlate with the BMD of a group of non-weight-bearing bones (left arm).

Conclusions: The hypotheses of this study were partly accepted. We accept the hypothesis that children in this NHANES dataset did not meet vitamin D intake as recommended by RDA. However, we reject the hypothesis that the children who consumed higher levels of vitamin D would have greater BMD with a weight-bearing bone. Promoting vitamin D intake in this population may be needed to help better bone health.

Funding Sources: This work was supported by Department of Dietetics and Nutrition at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.