In making this effort, osteoporosis offers an excellent case study: it represents a heavy burden and has a high prevalence, the disease is progressing slowly and has an early onset (several decades before it actually manifests selleck chemicals llc itself), and is associated with food consumption [9]. In accordance with earlier studies [41], the incidence of hip fractures was highest for Sweden, compared to The Netherlands selleck chemical and France. One explanation for these inter-country differences may be related to different levels of calcium intake between countries’ populations. However, there will be other explanations as well, which is why there is no one-to-one

relationship between calcium intake and rates of hip fractures (as the numbers for the countries included in this study demonstrate). Plausible other hypotheses for these inter-country differences include genetic predisposition and lifestyle factors (nutritional patterns in general, physical LB-100 datasheet activity, etcetera) [42]. The highest PIF was found in French women, which can be explained by the relatively large proportion of the French

female population with a low calcium intake. In The Netherlands, this PIF number was much lower, relating to the fact that the Dutch consume large amounts of dairy foods [43, 44]. It should be noted that the food consumption studies used measured calcium intake from all food products, not solely dairy foods. However, dairy foods contributed by far the most to calcium intake [11, 43]. The yearly societal burden of hip fractures associated with low calcium intake appeared to be 374 DALYs for The Netherlands, 6,263 DALYs for France, and 1,246

Galeterone DALYs for Sweden. The potential savings on the costs of treating hip fractures exceeded the costs of extra dairy foods in all three countries. Total costs avoided were largest in France, mainly due to the relatively high PIF found in France. As mentioned before, the main calculations rested on the assumptions that all these hip fractures are indeed prevented. This might raise questions about compliance. It is known that compliance with current anti-osteoporotic drugs is rather low, and optimal anti-fracture efficacy is not always achieved in clinical practice [23, 45, 46]. In a recent study [47], dairy food has been shown to be an appropriate vehicle to supplement extra calcium and other minerals, with good compliance compared to that reported for supplements [48]. The daily costs of additional dairy were lowest in The Netherlands, compared to France and Sweden. This corresponds with the findings of a European Commission report, which analysed price differences of supermarket goods across Europe [49]. In the primary analysis, costs of additional dairy foods were applied only to those persons who actually could be prevented from having a hip fracture due to low calcium intake.