The association between maternal diet during pregnancy and bone mass of the children at age 16

Abstract

Fetal life may be a critical period for the development and/or programming of metabolic systems, including the skeleton. However, it is unclear on the association between maternal nutrition during pregnancy and bone mass in their offspring at adolescence. This was a birth cohort study of 216 adolescents (16.2±0.4 years). Dietary intake was measured by food frequency questionnaire. Bone densitometry was measured at the femoral neck, lumbar spine and total body by DXA. After adjustment for confounders, bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck was positively associated with magnesium density and negatively associated with fat density (all P-values P-values in utero diet influences peak bone mass possibly through programming bone responses.