Dietary Calcium Intake in Young Bangladeshi Female Garment Factory Workers: Associations with Serum Parathyroid Hormone Concentrations

摘要

The association of low calcium intake with high serum PTH concentrations, increased bone resorption and low bone mass has been studied extensively in elderly women but studies examined the association among young women of childbearing age are scanty. The present study was designed to evaluate the dietary intake of calcium and its association with intact parathyroid hormone (S-iPTH) in young female garment factory worker with hypovitaminosis D. A total of 198 apparently healthy subjects (aged 18-36 years) were randomly selected. Anthropometric and background information was collected. Three days dietary records were used to estimate habitual calcium intake. Serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (S-25OHD) and S-iPTH were measured. The dietary calcium intake was uniformly low. About 60% of subjects failed to meet the lowest level (400 mg day^-1) of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) of calcium for Indian adult women. S-iPTH showed a significant inverse relationship with dietary calcium intake (r = -0.60, p<0.001). We observed that dietary calcium intake and S-25OHD together explained 46% of the variation in S-iPTH and 39% of the total variability in S-iPTH was explained by the variation in dietary calcium intake alone. Low calcium intake could reduce the bone accretion and may increase the risk of hyperparathyroidism, osteoporosis and fracture burden in these subjects.