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In young premenopausal women, vertebral bone mineral density is significantly correlated with physical activity levels, whereas radial bone mineral density is not.
Focus on weight-bearing exercises like walking and running to maximize vertebral bone density. Calcium intake alone is less effective for this specific outcome in young women.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
In this population, vertebral bone mineral density was significantly related (r = 0.41, p < 0.005) to activity pattern but not to calcium intake... Radial mineral content was not related to activity (which was mostly walking and running)
Why this rating
Cross-sectional observational study with a small sample size (n=60).
Source
Interaction of calcium nutrition and physical activity on bone mass in young women
Bonnie Kanders et al. · Journal of Bone and Mineral Research · 1988
DOI 10.1002/jbmr.5650030204
cross_sectional · n=60Cited 229×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- For young premenopausal women, calcium intake between 800-1000 mg/day is optimal for vertebral bone mineral density, with no additional benefit observed for intakes above this threshold.Moderate
- Combining high calcium intake (>800 mg/day) with high physical activity (>970 kcal/day energy expenditure) results in significantly higher vertebral bone mineral density than either factor alone.Moderate
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