Dietary Intake and Bone Mineral Density Status Among Adolescents of Kurukshetra

Long term calcium deficiency during adolescence leads to poor bone mineral accrual in and early onset of osteoporosis. Information on calcium intake was obtained by 24hour recall method for three days. BMD of the whole body was measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Mean calcium intake among 56.09% of the subjects (396 out of 706) was less than recommended calcium (ICMR, 2011) i.e., 800 mg daily. There was significant difference (p≤0.003) among male and female subjects in amount of calcium intake. In addition, higher number of female subjects (80.67%) were taking less than recommended calcium RDA than their male counter parts (43.59%). In males, out of total 72 and 239 male adolescent subjects of group I and II, 24(33.33%) and 48 (20.08%) subjects were found low in BMD respectively. While in females, out of total 48 and 50 male adolescent subjects of group I and II, 20 (41.67%) and 22 (44%) subjects were found low in BMD respectively. Hence, the results revealed that low BMD was present among the adolescent students of Kurukshetra district.