RESUMEN
Lifestyle behaviors including dietary habits are well known to play key roles in bone metabolism. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among the factors affecting bone mineral density (BMD) including age, anthropometric parameters, lifestyle behaviors, and dietary habits of men aged more than 50 years. Ninety-one men, who visited health promotion center at one of the university medical centers, were divided into two groups according to the BMD: normal and osteopenia. The BMD of femoral neck in the osteopenia group was significantly lower than that of the normal group (0.77 +/- 0.28 vs. 0.98 +/- 0.08 g/cm2). The proportion of the regular exercisers was significantly lower in the osteopenia group than in the normal group (p = 0.027). In the osteopenia group, the femoral neck BMD was significantly decreased in smokers and coffee drinkers compared to no-smokers and no-coffee drinkers. The femoral neck BMD was increased among those who consume breakfast and beans and bean products more frequently and those with a greater meal regularity. In the normal group, the lumbar spine BMD was significantly increased among those with frequent consumption of beans and bean products. The lumbar spine BMD was significantly correlated with exercise (r = 0.263), and the femoral neck BMD with weight (r = 0.284), BMI (r = 0.324), relative body weight (r= 0.294), exercise (r = 0.269) and frequency of beans and bean products consumption (r = 0.216). These results indicate that lifestyle behaviors and dietary habits play important roles in maintaining optimum bone health in the middle-aged men.