{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T05:01:05Z","timestamp":1780290065299,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Early childhood is an important period of skeletal development during which nutritional exposures can affect mineral accretion and joint morphology. Nonetheless, few studies have compared bone mineral density (BMD) and hip joint morphology in children.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objectives<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between the nutritional status of children at an early age and the BMD and morphology of hip joints in children.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>It was a retrospective cohort study of 550 children aged 614\u202fyears who had the data of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and hip radiography (January 2021\u2013December 2025). The nutritional status of infants in early life was defined as adequate or suboptimal based on the infant\u2019s feeding practices and developmental indicators. Regression analyses were performed using multivariate models, adjusting for age, sex, birth weight, BMI, gestational age, physical activity, and vitamin D supplementation.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The children who were fed poorly in their early life had poorer total-body and site-specific\n                      <jats:italic>Z<\/jats:italic>\n                      -scores of BMD and a more prevalent incidence of altered hip morphology. After adjustment, nutritional optimization remained strongly associated with low BMD and increased risk of low bone density and hip deformities. There was an inverse-proportional relationship, graded, whereby low nutritional scores were associated with low skeletal performance.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Nutritional status in early-life was found to be significantly connected with the bone mineral density and morphology of hip joints in childhood. The results indicate that early nutritional exposures may play an important role in children\u2019s skeletal health, but it is impossible to draw causal conclusions because the study is retrospective.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1797867","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T04:18:15Z","timestamp":1780287495000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Early-life nutritional status as a determinant of bone density and hip joint morphology in children"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Hongliang","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weizhang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guangxi","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yang","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emergency, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuchai","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Da","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Weiming","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Orthopaedics, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine","place":["Guangzhou, 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