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Beancurd and improvement of bone mineral density in menopausal women

3 October 2019

The aim of this randomized, controlled clinical trial was to evaluate the effect of dried beancurd supplementation on skeletal health in postmenopausal Chinese women.

To do so, 300 postmenopausal women were assigned to two groups receiving either 100 g of dried beancurd per day or a rice cake for 2 years.

Results showed that a significant increase in lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) was observed in beancurd supplemented group. Furthermore, an obvious decrease was found in urinary NTX/CRT, and a significant increase was detected in serum isoflavone concentration. However, the dried beancurd supplementation had no effect on changes of right proximal femur BMD and concentrations of serum ALP and BGP.

Authors concluded that daily supplementation with dried beancurd could increase BMD of lumbar spine, but does not slow bone loss at right proximal femur in postmenopausal Chinese women.

Mean percentage change in BMD of lumbar spine at each time point (6, 12, 18 and 24 months) for two intervention groups: control, n = 112; dried beancurd, n = 117. Significant differences were detected both between treatment (p < 0.001) and time (p = 0.027) by the test using a mix-effects model with age and body weight as covariate.

Li L, Sun M, Sun J, Kong H, Zhong W, Wang H. The Effect of Dried Beancurd on Bone Mineral Density in Postmenopausal Chinese Women: A 2-Year Randomized Controlled Trial. Calcif Tissue Int. 2019 Sep 5.