Serum lactoferrin levels in abdominal obese postmenopausal women with normal bone status and osteopenia

Background. Recently, it has been shown that lactoferrin intake might impact bone health. However, less is known about the association between blood lactoferrin levels and bone status. Therefore, this study aimed to compare serum lactoferrin concentrations between abdominally obese postmenopausal women with normal bone health and osteopenia.
Material and methods. A total of 238 women aged 50–75 years with a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/m2 and waist circumference ≥ 88 cm were included in the study. Their bone mineral density (BMD) and content (BMC) for the total body, lumbar spine and femoral neck were measured using the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry method, and the T-score and Z-score were calculated. Biochemical markers of glucose and insulin homeostasis, lipid metabolism and inflammatory parameters, lactoferrin levels, and body composition were determined.
Results. Women with a T-score of the lumbar spine > –1 were significantly younger (p = 0.0005) and had a higher body weight (p = 0.0208) and BMI (p = 0.0312) than participants with a T-score ≤ –1. In the group of subjects with a T-score > –1, BMC at the lumbar spine was significantly higher in women with lactoferrin levels below than above the median (p = 0.0455), whereas in the group of those with a T-score ≤ –1, women with lactoferrin levels lower than the median had significantly lower BMC (p = 0.0298), BMD (p = 0.0428), T-score (p = 0.0216) and Z-score (p = 0.0452) at the femoral neck and BMC (p = 0.0358), BMD (p = 0.0244) and T-score (p = 0.0139) at the total body.
Conclusion. These results suggest that serum lactoferrin levels might be associated with bone health, but the effect may differ in subjects with normal bone status and osteopenia.