Vitamin B12 and folic acid levels as therapeutic target in preserving bone mineral density (BMD) of older men

The knowledge about vitamin B12 and folic acid levels in preserving bone mass in older men is limited. In this retrospective study, we aimed to find out whether levels of vitamin B12 and folic acid are related to BMD in older men. Two hundred and sixty-nine older men were included in the study. Forty-two (15.6%) of them had osteoporotic, 150 (55.8%) had osteopenic, and 77 (28.6%) had normal BMD. Vitamin B12 and folic acid levels were categorized as indicating normal, borderline, or low vitamin statuses. Femur neck densities showed statistically significant differences in subjects having low, borderline, and normal vitamin B12, respectively. There were no significant differences between the three tertiles of vitamin B12 in femur total, trochanteric, and intertrochanteric densities. After adjustment for age, body mass index (BMI), alcohol, smoking, and exercise with analysis of covariance, the difference was still statistically significant between two groups for femur neck density (p = 0.011). No significant difference was observed between the groups of folic acid in any femur sites. We found that the normal level of vitamin B12 in older men may be related to a decrease of femur neck bone loss.