Nutrition and Diet Tips

There are several characteristics of a vegetarian diet could potentially have adverse effects against bone health, and others working for it. What is the evolution or the evidence in clinical reality?

Who has more fractures?

European data from the EPIC study has enabled researchers to compare the risk of fracture with vegetarian diet.
There were no significant differences in fracture risk between vegetarians and consumers of meat and fish. However, vegans (strict vegetarians) had a 15% higher risk who consume meat. This difference was not seen in vegetarians who consumed at least 525 mg/day of calcium.

The discussion of vegetarian diets has been the subject of discussion for many years, among those who reported their possible shortcomings and those enthusiastic about its potential health benefits.

In terms of trends in this equation, one of the issues is that could adversely affect bone health. A number of studies comparing omnivorous diets and vegetarian diets have been found in men and adult women (including postmenopausal) bone mass, increasing frequency of osteopenia and osteoporosis in children and decreased levels of osteocalcin, a marker of bone formation. However, other studies failed to demonstrate differences or even found that vegetarians had higher bone mineral density (ref.10).

Reviews on this topic have concluded that the evidence of an adverse effect is not convincing but is much more to the vegan (strict vegetarians who consume no animal products, including eggs or dairy).

Vegetarian diets are typically high in phytoestrogens, particularly when they include high amounts of soy-based foods. It has been suggested that these components can help prevent bone loss in postmenopausal, however this is not entirely clear, but there is little evidence on how this data could be relevant in the case of vegetarians.

In general, we think a well-balanced vegetarian diet should not be a concern in relation to bone health. However, that does not mean that we can learn from studies in vegetarians compared to optimal nutrition for bone formation.

For those who follow vegetarian diets significant restriction, particularly those who do not consume dairy products should be considered a supplementation with calcium and vitamin D. It would be prudent to ensure adequate vitamin B12 status. All these measures are especially important in children, lactating mothers and post-menopausal women.