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Divergent effects of sex and calcium/vitamin D supplementation on serum magnesium and markers of bone structure and function during initial military training

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2021

Stephen R. Hennigar*
Affiliation:
Florida State University, Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology, Tallahassee, FL, USA US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), Military Nutrition Division, Natick, MA, USA Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Belcamp, MD, USA
Alyssa M. Kelley
Affiliation:
US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), Military Nutrition Division, Natick, MA, USA Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Belcamp, MD, USA
Anna T. Nakayama
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Belcamp, MD, USA USARIEM, Military Performance Division, Natick, MA, USA
Bradley J. Anderson
Affiliation:
US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), Military Nutrition Division, Natick, MA, USA Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Belcamp, MD, USA
James P. McClung
Affiliation:
US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), Military Nutrition Division, Natick, MA, USA
Erin Gaffney-Stomberg
Affiliation:
USARIEM, Military Performance Division, Natick, MA, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Stephen R. Hennigar, email shennigar@fsu.edu
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Abstract

Maintaining Mg status may be important for military recruits, a population that experiences high rates of stress fracture during initial military training (IMT). The objectives of this secondary analysis were to (1) compare dietary Mg intake and serum Mg in female and male recruits pre- and post-IMT, (2) determine whether serum Mg was related to parameters of bone health pre-IMT, and (3) whether Ca and vitamin D supplementation (Ca/vitamin D) during IMT modified serum Mg. Females (n 62) and males (n 51) consumed 2000 mg of Ca and 25 μg of vitamin D/d or placebo during IMT (12 weeks). Dietary Mg intakes were estimated using FFQ, serum Mg was assessed and peripheral quantitative computed tomography was performed on the tibia. Dietary Mg intakes for females and males pre-IMT were below the estimated average requirement and did not change with training. Serum Mg increased during IMT in females (0·06 ± 0·08 mmol/l) compared with males (–0·02 ± 0·10 mmol/l; P < 0·001) and in those consuming Ca/vitamin D (0·05 ± 0·09 mmol/l) compared with placebo (0·001 ± 0·11 mmol/l; P = 0·015). In females, serum Mg was associated with total bone mineral content (BMC, β = 0·367, P = 0·004) and robustness (β = 0·393, P = 0·006) at the distal 4 % site, stress–strain index of the polaris axis (β = 0·334, P = 0·009) and robustness (β = 0·420, P = 0·004) at the 14 % diaphyseal site, and BMC (β = 0·309, P = 0·009) and stress–strain index of the polaris axis (β = 0·314, P = 0·006) at the 66 % diaphyseal site pre-IMT. No significant relationships between serum Mg and bone measures were observed in males. Findings suggest that serum Mg may be modulated by Ca/vitamin D intake and may impact tibial bone health during training in female military recruits.

Information

Type
Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society
Figure 0

Table 1. Participant characteristics pre-military training*(Mean values and standard deviations; number and percentages; median values and interquartile range)

Figure 1

Table 2. Relationship between serum magnesium concentration and bone parameters in females and males pre-military training

Figure 2

Table 3. Change in body composition, dietary intake and biochemical measures pre- to post-military training*(Mean values and standard deviations)

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