Dairy foods and osteoporosis: an example of assessing the health-economic impact of food products

Abstract

SummaryOsteoporosis has become a major health concern, carrying a substantial burden in terms of health outcomes and costs. We constructed a model to quantify the potential effect of an additional intake of calcium from dairy foods on the risk of osteoporotic fracture, taking a health economics perspective.IntroductionThis study seeks, first, to estimate the impact of an increased dairy consumption on reducing the burden of osteoporosis in terms of health outcomes and costs, and, second, to contribute to a generic methodology for assessing the health-economic outcomes of food products.MethodsWe constructed a model that generated the number of hip fractures that potentially can be prevented with dairy foods intakes, and then calculated costs avoided, considering the healthcare costs of hip fractures and the costs of additional dairy foods, as well as the number of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to hip fractures associated with low nutritional calcium intake. Separate analyses were done for The Netherlands, France, and Sweden, three countries with different levels of dairy products consumption.ResultsThe number of hip fractures that may potentially be prevented each year with additional dairy products was highest in France (2,023), followed by Sweden (455) and The Netherlands (132). The yearly number of DALYs lost was 6,263 for France, 1,246 for Sweden, and 374 for The Netherlands. The corresponding total costs that might potentially be avoided are about 129 million, 34 million, and 6 million Euros, in these countries, respectively.ConclusionsThis study quantified the potential nutrition economic impact of increased dairy consumption on osteoporotic fractures, building connections between the fields of nutrition and health economics. Future research should further collect longitudinal population data for documenting the net benefits of increasing dairy consumption on bone health and on the related utilization of healthcare resources.

Dairy products, yogurts, and bone health

“…By increasing the intake of dairy foods to the recommended 3-4 servings/d, a reduction of at least 20% in osteoporosis-related health care costs could be achieved in the United States, translating to savings of $3.5 billion/y (82). The potential economic impact of increased dairy consumption on osteoporotic fractures has been quantified for selected European countries, such as the Netherlands, France, and Sweden (83). The potential savings on the cost of treating hip fractures exceeded the costs of extra dairy foods in all 3 countries: daily costs of additional dairy products, derived from local market prices, were small and were calculated at €0.44, €0.64, and €0.68 for the Netherlands, France, and Sweden, respectively.…”

“…The economic impact of improving dairy product consumption has been estimated in some models (82,83). By increasing the intake of dairy foods to the recommended 3-4 servings/d, a reduction of at least 20% in osteoporosis-related health care costs could be achieved in the United States, translating to savings of $3.5 billion/y (82).…”

“…The potential savings on the cost of treating hip fractures exceeded the costs of extra dairy foods in all 3 countries: daily costs of additional dairy products, derived from local market prices, were small and were calculated at €0.44, €0.64, and €0.68 for the Netherlands, France, and Sweden, respectively. The total potential savings on the costs of treating hip fractures were large: w€129 million for France, €34 million for Sweden, and €6 million for the Netherlands (83).…”

Protective Association of Milk Intake on the Risk of Hip Fracture: Results from the Framingham Original Cohort

“…There are several critical public health implications of osteoporosis including increased risk of fracture, loss in physical function, increased mortality and morbidity, and decreased quality of life 2 . It is estimated that among the 10 million Americans over the age of 50 years who have osteoporosis 3 , approximately 1.5 million suffer from osteoporotic fractures every year 4 .…”

Dairy Intake Is Protective against Bone Loss in Older Vitamin D Supplement Users: The Framingham Study

“…The consequences of osteoporosis include increased risk of fracture, loss of physical function, increased mortality and morbidity, and decreased quality of life (3). Osteoporosis prevention includes regular physical exercise and adequate intakes of calcium and vitamin D (1).…”