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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #152624
Title: LOW PLASMA VITAMIN B12 IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER BONE MINERAL DENSITY: THE FRAMINGHAM OSTEOPOROSIS STUDY

Author
item TUCKER, KATHERINE - TUFTS-HNRCA
item HANNAN, MARIAN - HEBREW REHAB, HARVARD
item JACQUES, PAUL - TUFTS-HNRCA
item SELHUB, JACOB - TUFTS-HNRCA
item ROSENBERG, IRWIN - TUFTS-HNRCA
item WILSON, PETER - BOSTON UNIVERSITY
item KIEL, DOUGLAS - HEBREW REHAB, HARVARD

Submitted to: American Society for Bone and Mineral Research
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2002
Publication Date: 9/1/2002
Citation: TUCKER, K.L., HANNAN, M.T., JACQUES, P.F., SELHUB, J., ROSENBERG, I., WILSON, P.W., KIEL, D.P. LOW PLASMA VITAMIN B12 IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOWER BONE MINERAL DENSITY: THE FRAMINGHAM OSTEOPOROSIS STUDY. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH. 2002;17(SUPPL 1):S174.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Osteoporosis has been previously associated with pernicious anemia and vitamin B12 is thought to be important to osteoblast activity. In one case report, a man with pernicious anemia showed marked improvement in bone density over two years of vitamin B12 treatment. However, few studies have examined vitamin B12 and BMD. We therefore assessed the relationship between plasma vitamin B12 and BMD in 1144 men and 1487 women in the Framingham Offspring Study. In 1995-99, participants (30-87y) had BMD measured with Lunar DPX-L at hip (femoral neck, trochanter, Wards area, total hip) and lumbar spine. Plasma from the same examination was analyzed for vitamin B12 by radioassay, (Ciba-Corning). We divided subjects based on standard cutoffs for vitamin B12: 200-250, >250-350, and >350 pg/mL. BMD measures were each regressed onto this categorical variable by sex, adjusting for age, BMI, height, smoking, alcohol use, calcium intake, vitamin D intake, physical activity score and season of measurement and least squares means were obtained. We also regressed BMD onto each of the three higher categories relative to the lowest, separately for men and women. 5% of men and 4% of women had B12 <=200 pg/mL. These subjects had significantly (p<.05) lower BMD than at least two of the three higher categories as follows: Men: fermoral neck, Ward's area and total hip, but not spine or trochanter; Women: trochanter, Ward's area, spine and total hip, but not femoral neck.. As an example, for men, the LS means for total hip BMD for the 4 categories were 0.98, 1.02, 1.03, 1.03 g/cm2, suggesting that vitamin B12 <=200 pg/mL was associated with BMD about 5% lower than those above this cut point (p< .05 with the 3rd and 4th). For women, corresponding total hip BMD LS means were 0.676, 0.705, 0.703, 0.700 g/cm2, p<.05 for 1st vs. 3rd and 4th. Patterns were similar for other BMD sites. These results support the hypothesized association between vitamin B12 deficiency and low BMD for both men and women in a population sample. Future studies should focus on B12 effects on bone biology, including the possibility that B12 effects are mediated directly or possibly through homocysteine metabolism.