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Importance: Milk consumption during adolescence is recommended to promote peak bone mass and thereby reduce fracture risk in later life. However, its role in hip fracture prevention is not established and high consumption may adversely influence risk by increasing height., Objectives: To determine whether milk consumption during teenage years influences risk of hip fracture in older adults and to investigate the role of attained height in this association., Design, Setting, and Participants: Prospective cohort study over 22 years of follow-up in more than 96,000 white postmenopausal women from the Nurses' Health Study and men aged 50 years and older from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study in the United States., Exposures: Frequency of consumption of milk and other foods during ages 13 to 18 years and attained height were reported at baseline. Current diet, weight, smoking, physical activity, medication use, and other risk factors for hip fractures were reported on biennial questionnaires., Main Outcomes and Measures: Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate relative risks (RRs) of first incidence of hip fracture from low-trauma events per glass (8 fl oz or 240 mL) of milk consumed per day during teenage years., Results: During follow-up, 1226 hip fractures were identified in women and 490 in men. After controlling for known risk factors and current milk consumption, each additional glass of milk per day during teenage years was associated with a significant 9% higher risk of hip fracture in men (RR = 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01-1.17). The association was attenuated when height was added to the model (RR = 1.06; 95% CI, 0.98-1.14). Teenage milk consumption was not associated with hip fractures in women (RR = 1.00 per glass per day; 95% CI, 0.95-1.05)., Conclusions and Relevance: Greater milk consumption during teenage years was not associated with a lower risk of hip fracture in older adults. The positive association observed in men was partially mediated through attained height.

Next to a healthy calcium and protein rich diet and exercise, vitamin D supplementation is a key pillar of osteoporosis prevention among postmenopausal women. This article reviews the recent recommendations on vitamin D by the IOF (2010), the Institute of Medicine (2010), and the US Endocrine Society (2011), including the evidence to support these recommendations for fracture and fall prevention. The recent recommendations agree that supplementation should be performed with vitamin D3 or vitamin D2, and that a minimal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D threshold of 50 nmol/l (20 ng/ml)should be achieved to overcome vitamin D deficiency. In contrast to the Institute of Medicine, the IOF and the US Endocrine Society recommend vitamin D also for the prevention of falls, and state that for fracture prevention a higher serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D threshold of 75 nmol/l (30 ng/ml) should be targeted.

Background: Periodontal disease (PD) is a common chronic inflammatory disease and an important risk factor for tooth loss. Vitamin D might affect periodontal disease risk via an effect on bone mineral density (BMD) or via immunomodulatory effects., Objective: The objective was to evaluate whether serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) [25(OH)D(3)] concentrations are associated with PD in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey., Design: We analyzed data on periodontal attachment loss (AL) and serum 25(OH)D(3) concentrations from 11 202 subjects aged > or =20 y. Mean AL was modeled in a multiple linear regression with quintile of serum 25(OH)D(3) concentration as an independent variable. The model was stratified by age and sex and was adjusted for age within age groups, race or ethnicity, smoking, diabetes, poverty income ratio, body mass index, estrogen use, and gingival bleeding., Results: 25(OH)D(3) concentrations were significantly and inversely associated with AL in men and women aged > or =50 y. Compared with men in the highest 25(OH)D(3) quintile, those in the lowest quintile had a mean AL that was 0.39 mm (95% CI: 0.17, 0.60 mm) higher; in women, the difference in AL between the lowest and highest quintiles was 0.26 mm (0.09, 0.43 mm). In men and women younger than 50 y, there was no significant association between 25(OH)D(3) and AL. The BMD of the total femoral region was not associated with AL and did not mediate the association between 25(OH)D(3) and AL., Conclusions: Low serum 25(OH)D(3) concentrations may be associated with PD independently of BMD. Given the high prevalence of PD and vitamin D deficiency, these findings may have important public health implications.