Diet Risks of Fractures

The Basics

WHAT: Summary of  a study analysing a connection of diet with the risk of total and site-specific fractures.

SOURCE: Sobiecki JG, Appleby PN, Bradbury KE, Key TJ., European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition-Oxford, May 2016,

Ho-Pham LT, Nguyen ND, Nguyen TV., Effect of vegetarian diets on bone mineral density: a Bayesian meta-analysis.

GREAT FOR: Vegan, Vegetarian, Healthy Eating, Diet, Physical Well-being

About

There is limited prospective evidence on possible differences in fracture risks between vegetarians, vegans, and non-vegetarians. We wonder why and if this is something to look into closely on our daily basis?

Is vibrant vegan very healthy or need to pay more attention to food?

The Study

One study focused on the calcium and proteins intake and their correlation with the body health.

People who follow various diets entered the study. Participants completed a questionnaire that asked about diet, socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, and medical history.

To evaluate the influence of dietary calcium and protein on the associations, scientists included models further adjusting for either dietary calcium or dietary protein intake, and simultaneously adjusting for both variables.

Additional analyses were also performed limited to people with sufficient dietary calcium (≥ 700 mg/day) or dietary protein intake (≥ 0.75 g of protein per day/kg body weight) in accordance with UK dietary guidelines.

Findings

In stratified analyses of total and hip fractures, a significantly higher risk of both total and hip fractures was only observed in vegetarians over age 50 at recruitment, although vegans had higher risks in both age groups, and a significant p for interaction was only observed for total fractures.

For both types of fractures, the significant associations in vegans appeared stronger in women, particularly those who were postmenopausal, and participants with low physical activity. Separately, previous findings from the Adventist Health Study 2, which has a large proportion of vegetarians, showed that participants who ate meat more than three times a week had lower risks of hip fractures than participants who ate meat less than once a week.

Overall, vegans in this study had higher risks of total and some site-specific fractures (hip, leg) than meat-eaters. The strongest associations were observed for hip fractures, for which fish eaters, vegetarians, and vegans all had higher risks. These risk differences might be partially explained by the lower average BMI and lower average intakes of calcium and protein in the non-meat eaters. However, because the differences remained, especially in vegans, after accounting for these factors, other unaccounted for factors may be important.

Conclusion:

If you are vegan or vegetarian perhaps pay more attention to the number of protein and calcium daily take. On top of that make sure you have an active lifestyle with a physical movement working on developing your body mass.