Dairy consumption and other dietary risk factors for osteoporosis in Croatian young women

Among dietary risk factors for developing osteoporosis, calcium intake in the primary prevention of osteoporosis has received much attention. The aim of this study was to determine dietary risk factors for later osteoporosis in Croatian young women (mean age 22 years), especially dairy foods consumption, a food group that is the best calcium source because of its calcium content and bioavailability. Dietary assessment methods used were Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) (n=1372) and Quantified Food Frequency Questionnaire (Q-FFQ) (n=480). Daily consumption of dairy foods reported 76.0 % subjects and 11.6 % subjects consume dairy foods less than once a month. Average daily calcium intake was 1444.4 mg, i.e. 144.4 % Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) and 31.0 % of women had calcium intake less than 100 % DRI. In conclusion, dairy foods were the main source of dietary calcium in a daily diet, what shows significance of this food group in achieving adequate calcium intake in this study.