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Vitamin D Status and Bone Mineral Density in Female Collegiate Dancers and Cheerleaders 



Author(s)

Tara Kenny, Damon McCune, Laura Kruskall, James Navalta and John Young

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DOI:10.17265/2332-7839/2017.01.004

Bone mineral density reflects an athlete’s cumulative history of energy availability, physical activity, and menstrual status, as well as nutritional and environmental factors. Although sports with high-impact loading are associated with higher bone mineral density than low-impact or non-impact sports, confounding variables are differences in the athletes’ body size and sport-specific training. The purpose of this study was to determine if bone mineral density (BMD) and vitamin D status are different between two groups of female collegiate athletes who have comparable body size/weight requirements, but who engage in qualitatively different training regimens. Full body, spine and dual femur BMD was assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in members of a university pep-dance team (n = 10) or cheer team (n = 9), ages 18-22. Plasma vitamin D status was assessed by ELIZA. There was no significant difference between the groups for total body BMD (1.23 g/cm² dance vs 1.22 g/cm² cheer, P = 0.70), spine BMD (1.39 g/cm² dance vs 1.36 g/cm² cheer, P = 0.72) or dual femur BMD (1.20 g/cm² dance vs 1.11 g/cm², P = 0.23). Insufficient serum vitamin D status (20-32 ng/mL) was found in 74% of the athletes (27 ± 4 ng/mL, dance and 25 ± 8 ng/mL, cheer). In addition, estimated daily vitamin D and calcium intakes were less than the RDA for both dancers and cheerleaders. Despite nutritional insufficiencies, BMD was not significantly different between the low-impact activity pep dance team and high-impact activity cheer team, suggesting that the type of physical activity was not as important for BMD in these athletes as participating in 20+ hours a week of physical activity, which could have counteracted the negative effects of the nutrient insufficiencies on their bone health. style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-font-family:STCaiyun;mso-ansi-language: EN-US;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA'>“early specialization model” of the volleyball athletes is not supported, which as we have seen from the survey, is already underway in A3 category. Instead, a very careful and thorough investigation of all relevant factors should be preceded, which will help in the final selection of the most appropriate development model of volleyball athletes in our country.

Female athletes, physical activity, nutritional status.