Study Limitations
LITTLE
This is a cross-sectional study with DII and bone outcomes only analyzed at one time point, the screening visit of the parent RCT. Therefore, we could not conduct a prospective examination of the effects of the inflammatory potential of diet on bone outcomes. However, this is the first study to our knowledge to examine TBS scores in relation to E-DII. Little research has been undertaken to evaluate the relationship between nutrition and TBS; therefore, this study is important to moving the literature forward. While this study may be generalizable to white, midwestern post-menopausal women, future studies should aim to include more diverse populations. This study used an FFQ to assess dietary intake which can lead to under- or over-estimation of the actual dietary intake of the variables due to participant recall bias. An FFQ response rate of 30% may also carry additional bias in responders compared to non-responders, which cannot unable to be assessed. Additionally, social desirability bias in self-report data may be more strongly expressed in women, especially highly educated women, as seen in our population. This can potentially lead to skewed nutrient intakes from which E-DII scores were calculated [