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Associations of Dietary Anthocyanidins Intake with Bone Health in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Purpose

Bone health and body composition share several common mechanisms like oxidative stress and inflammation. Anthocyanins have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. We have reported that anthocyanins are associated with better body composition in children, but the associations with bone health have not been elucidated. We aimed to explore the association of anthocyanins with bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) at multiple sites in children.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 452 Chinese children aged 6–9 years were recruited. A validated 79-item food frequency questionnaire was used to collect dietary information. BMC and BMD at multiple sites (whole body; whole body excluding head, WBEH; limbs; arms; legs) were measured by dual-energy X-ray.

Results

Higher dietary intake of total anthocyanidins (per one standard deviation increase) was associated with a 1.28–13.6 g (1.31-1.60%, compared to median) higher BMC at all sites and a 3.61–6.96 mg (0.65–0.90%) higher BMD at the whole body, WBEH, and arm sites after controlling for a number of possible covariates. The results were similar and more pronounced for cyanidin, but not for delphinidin and peonidin. Higher dietary intake of cyanidin (per one standard deviation increase) was associated with a 1.33–15.4 g (1.48–1.68%) higher BMC at all sites and a 4.15–7.77 mg (0.66–1.00%) higher BMD at all sites except the legs. No statistically significant associations with BMC or BMD were found for dietary intake of delphinidin and peonidin.

Conclusions

Higher dietary intake of total anthocyanidins and cyanidins were associated with higher BMC and BMD in Chinese children.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all research members involved in the data collection of the study.

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.81502798, ZZQ), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (Grant No. 2015A030310399, ZZQ), the Maternal and Children Nutrition and Care Fund of Biostime (Grant No. BINCMYF15006, ZZQ), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 82103855, G.D.C.,), Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2019A1515110163, G.D.C.,) and the Foundation of Bureau of Science and Technology of Foshan City (Grant No. 2220001004104, G.D.C.,). The funding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

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Author notes

  1. Geng-dong Chen and Shu-jun Liang have contributed equally to this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics, Foshan Institute of Fetal Medicine, Southern Medical University Affiliated Maternal & Child Health Hospital of Foshan, Foshan, 528000, Guangdong, China

    Geng-dong Chen

  2. Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Southern Medical University, No.1023-1063, Tainan Road, Baiyun District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, 510515, People’s Republic of China

    Shu-jun Liang, Lan Huang, Hao-ran Yu, Yu-lin Wu, Qin-zhi Wei & Zhe-qing Zhang

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Contributions

GDC and SJL: analyzed the data and wrote the paper. LH, HRY, and YUW: were parts of the data collection team; QZW and ZQZ: revised the manuscript; ZQZ: designed the project, supervised the study and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qin-zhi Wei or Zhe-qing Zhang.

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Conflict of interest

Geng-dong Chen, Shu-jun Liang, Lan Huang, Hao-ran Yu, Yu-lin Wu, Qin-zhi Wei and Zhe-qing Zhang have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University (No. 201549).

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

The Study was conducted in accordance with the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University (No. 201549).

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Well informed consent was obtained from each subject included in the study through his/her parents or legal guardians.

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Chen, Gd., Liang, Sj., Huang, L. et al. Associations of Dietary Anthocyanidins Intake with Bone Health in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study. Calcif Tissue Int 113, 393–402 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00223-023-01128-6

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