Oliver-Pons, CarlaSala Vila, AleixCofán, MontserratSerra-Mir, MercèRoth, IreneValls Pedret, CintaDoménech, MónicaOrtega, EmilioRajaram, SujathaSabaté, JoanRos, EmilioChiva-Blanch, Gemma2025-07-012025-07-012024Oliver-Pons C, Sala-Vila A, Cofán M, Serra-Mir M, Roth I, Valls-Pedret C, et al. Effects of walnut consumption for 2 years on older adults' bone health in the Walnuts and Healthy Aging (WAHA) trial. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2024 Aug;72(8):2471-82. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.190070002-8614http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70802Background: Nutritional strategies to maintain bone health in aging individuals are of great interest. Given the beneficial nutrient composition of walnuts, rich in alpha-linolenic (the vegetable n-3 fatty acid) and polyphenols, their regular consumption might be a dietary option to reduce age-related bone loss. We determined whether daily walnut consumption improves bone mineral density (BMD) and circulating biomarkers of bone turnover. Methods: The Walnuts and Healthy Aging study (WAHA) is a two-center, parallel, randomized controlled trial evaluating the effect of a diet enriched with walnuts at ≈15% energy compared with a control diet for 2 years on age-related health outcomes in healthy men and women aged 63-79 years. Changes in BMD were a prespecified secondary outcome only at the Barcelona node of the trial, where 352 participants were randomized. Retention rate was 92.6%. Primary endpoints were 2-year changes in BMD at the spine and the nondominant femoral neck, determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Secondary endpoints were 2-year changes in bone turnover biomarkers (adrenocorticotropic hormone, Dickkopf WNT signaling pathway inhibitor-1, osteoprotegerin, osteocalcin, osteopontin, sclerostin, parathyroid hormone, and fibroblast growth factor-23), which were quantified in 211 randomly selected participants. Results: The walnut diet versus the control diet had no effect on 2-year changes in BMD at the spine (0.15% vs. 0.35%, p = 0.632) and femoral neck (-0.90% vs. -0.70%, p = 0.653), or on bone turnover biomarkers. Results were similar in participants treated or not with bone resorption inhibitors or those with or without osteoporosis/osteopenia at inclusion. Conclusions: Compared with the usual diet, a diet enriched with walnuts at 15% of energy for 2 years failed to improve BMD or circulating markers of bone metabolism in healthy older people.application/pdfeng© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.19007Bone mineral density and turnover biomarkersNutritionRandomized controlled trialWalnutsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess