Swiss Elderly

Summary

This study is a joint study between the University of Surrey and the University Hospital, Lausanne with Professor Peter Burckhardt as the Principal Investigator and Dr Susan Lanham-New as the Co-Investigator. Emma Wynn is the PhD Research Fellow based in Lausanne but registered for a PhD at Surrey. A cohort of 401 elderly ambulatory women (aged 80.4 y, BMI: 25.2 kg/m2) have been studied as part of the Swiss elderly studies. They are a sub-group of women who participated in the SEMOF (Swiss Evaluation of the Methods of Measurement of Osteoporotic Fracture Risk) study. The SEMOF study was a prospective and multi-centred study that compared three bone quantitative ultrasounds for the assessment of hip fracture risk in a population of 7609 Swiss women aged > 70 y followed from 1997 to 2002. In 2004, the women of the local cohort were contacted by telephone and asked if they wanted to participate in the new one. EVANIBUS study (Evaluation of Nutritional Intakes and Bone UltraSound). 401 women accepted. Two sub-groups were created, 256 women with a fracture history (of which 15.2% were treated for osteoporosis including hormone replacement therapy) and 145 non-fractured women (of which 7.6% were treated). The Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), a non invasive and validated questionnaire to evaluate nutritional status in elderly people, was filled in by each woman Prior to their visit, all women received by post a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) specifically designed for this study which was validated against weighed records and tested for reproducibility. The study protocol was accepted by the University of Lausanne’s Ethic Committee. Written, informed consent was obtained from each subject.

Project Status : November 2008

The FFQ validation for use in EVANIBUS has been completed and published in the Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The analysis of the dietary and bone health data have also been analysed, showing a clear association between dietary alkalinity and improved bone health.

Work is now currently underway looking at the use of the MNA and indices of bone health.

Emma Wynn, who is the PhD student working on the project has successfully pass her Transfer Viva from MPhil to PhD and will submit her Thesis in early 2009.

Project Objectives

The primary objectives of this study are:

1. Development of a FFQ for use in the Swiss elderly
2. Investigation of an association between low dietary acid load and bone ultrasound measures (bone ultrasound attenuation) in a group of very elderly women aged 75 y and over who were representative of the Swiss population.

This very elderly population has not yet been assessed in terms of evaluation of dietary acid load and bone ultrasound measures.

Results and Findings

Emma has presented several abstracts at key national and international conferences and will be submitting a paper for the 2009 Post Graduate Symposium as part of the 2009 Nutrition Society Summer Conference.

Wynn E, Krieg MA, Aeschlimann JM, Burckhardt P. Alkaline mineral water lowers bone resorption even in calcium sufficiency: Alkaline mineral water and bone metabolism. Bone. 2008 Sep 26. [Epub ahead of print]

Wynn E, Raetz E, Burckhardt P. The composition of mineral waters sourced from Europe and North America in respect to bone health: composition of mineral water optimal for bone. Br J Nutr. 2008 Sep 8:1-5.

Wynn E, Lanham-New SA, Krieg MA, Whittamore DR, Burckhardt P. Low estimates of dietary acid load are positively associated with bone ultrasound in women older than 75 years of age with a lifetime fracture. J Nutr. 2008 Jul;138(7):1349-54.

Dumartheray EW, Krieg MA, Cornuz J, Whittamore DR, Lanham-New SA, Burckhardt P. Energy and nutrient intake of Swiss women aged 75-87 years. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2006 Dec;19(6):431-5.

Dumartheray EW, Krieg MA, Cornuz J, Whittamore DR, Lovell DP, Burckhardt P, Lanham-New SA. Validation and reproducibility of a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire for use in elderly Swiss women. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2006 Oct;19(5):321-30.