Association between Dietary Magnesium Intake and Radiographic Knee Osteoarthritis

PLoS One. 2015 May 26;10(5):e0127666. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127666. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the cross-sectional associations between dietary magnesium (Mg) intake and radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA), joint space narrowing (JSN), and osteophytes (OST) respectively.

Methods: A total of 1626 subjects were included in the study. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Radiographic knee OA was defined as Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) Grade 2 in at least one leg. JSN and OST were assessed individually according to the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) atlas. A multivariable logistic analysis model was applied to test the various associations after adjusting for potentially confounding factors.

Results: The relative odds of radiographic knee OA were decreased by 0.53 times in the third quintile of Mg intake [odds ratio (OR) 0.53, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.28-1.01], 0.40 times in the fourth quintile (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.17-0.94) and 0.34 times in the fifth quintile (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.11-1.00) compared with those in the lowest quintile, while P for trend was 0.111. The relative odds of JSN were decreased by 0.49 times in the third quintile of Mg intake (OR 0.49, 95% CI 0.28-0.88) and 0.37 times in the fifth quintile (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.14-0.98) compared with those in the lowest quintile, while P for trend was 0.088. There was no significant relationship between dietary Mg intake and the presence of OST.

Conclusions: The findings of this cross-sectional study indicate that Mg intake is inversely associated with radiographic knee OA and JSN. It supports potential role of Mg in the prevention of knee OA.

Level of evidence: LevelIII, cross-sectional study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Diet*
  • Disease Progression
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Knee Joint / diagnostic imaging*
  • Magnesium / administration & dosage*
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Osteoarthritis, Knee / diagnostic imaging*
  • Osteophyte / diagnostic imaging*
  • Radiography

Substances

  • Magnesium

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate (CX2014A005), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81201420, 81272034, 81472130), the Provincial Science Foundation of Hunan (No. 14JJ3032), the Scientific Research Project of the Development and Reform Commission of Hunan Province ([2013]1199), the Scientific Research Project of Science and Technology Office of Hunan Province (2013SK2018), and the Doctoral Scientific Fund Project of the Ministry of Education of China (20120162110036). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.