Coffee drinking: a minor risk factor for bone loss and fractures

The influence of coffee drinking as a possible risk factor for loss of bone mass was assessed in a cohort of 619 70-year-old men and women who were examined with dual photon absorptiometry of the right calcaneum. A high consumption of coffee was significantly associated with a lower bone mass, deteriorated dental state, lower socio-economic level and a higher consumption of tobacco. In non-smoking women a bivariate relationship was found between the daily consumption of three or more cups of coffee and a low bone mass (p less than 0.01). However, in a stepwise logistic regression model, only tobacco smoking, body mass index, body height, physical activity and a deteriorated dental state were found to be significant predictive factors for a low bone mineral content. Bone mass and tobacco smoking were the only significant predictive factors for fractures before the ages of 70 and 76 years. Coffee drinking was not a contributory independent risk factor for loss of bone mass and fractures in this population study.