Nutrition and Diet Tips

There is talk of varied diet when selecting foods from the different basic groups (cereals and meats vegetables, fruits, beans, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, fats, sugar and sweets), always prioritizing natural foods. It should be borne in mind that any food is capable of providing the body all the nutrients necessary for their development and operation.

To remain healthy you need to consume more than 40 different nutrients, fiber and other compounds such as phytochemicals, which have demonstrated a protective role in various diseases. This is only possible to obtain through diet.

Diets with a predominance of plant foods are bulky and contain a low concentration of nutrients. Moreover, diets with a high proportion of animal foods promote the risk of certain diseases.

There is no food that by itself provide all the nutrients the body needs. For example, milk is one of the most complete foods, is good source of protein and calcium, but not of iron and vitamin C.

The simultaneous intake of various foods also facilitates the assimilation of different nutrients.

For example:

• The consumption of foods rich in vitamin C enhances the absorption of iron in the egg, vegetables and beans.
• The consumption of fat promotes the absorption of carotenoids from vegetables and fruits.

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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.

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Calcium

It is recognized that vegetarians may have a higher overall intake of calcium, but the percentage of the total consumed absorbed is estimated below. This mineral is important for health, education, growth and maintenance of bones. Several studies have found a direct association between dietary calcium intake, bone density and fracture risk reduction. However, the largest meta-analysis of 33 studies on the subject, shows that the contribution of dietary calcium on bone density is modest.

The authors suggest that differences in the intake of this mineral or animal consumption sources (milk and dairy products, sardines) or plant (nuts, seeds, legumes) have no significant effect on the observed variation in bone density. If we look at these data, it is unlikely that the reduced strength of vegetarians in this analysis due to differences in dietary calcium intake.

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This feeding is associated with lower bone mineral density, but no cause for clinical concern.

The association between vegetarian diets and bone mineral density is controversial. The debate centers on the possibility that this type of food results in a lower bone mass, as some studies, compared to other investigations that have found no statistical significance in this relationship. The issue concerned because BMD is the strongest and most consistent predictor of fractures associated with osteoporosis.

In Western countries, a considerable proportion of the population has adopted a vegetarian diet that includes foods not found in traditional diets as the best for the formation and growth of bones.

The quality and quantity of ingested nutrients (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, vitamin D, A, K) and the consumption of other dietary elements that promote or hinder the absorption of minerals that nourish the bone, have a significant imprint on health marrow. These factors add up to each individual’s genetic predisposition to develop bone disorders.

The latest review on the possible association between diet and bone mineral density, a controversial issue, is a meta-analysis conducted by the Bone and Mineral Research Program Garvan Institute of Medical Research, picked up this October in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Differences between vegetarian diets

The density of bone is a complex physiological phenomenon that is influenced by multiple genetic and environmental factors.

One of the criteria of this review was to clarify the different concepts of vegetarian diet, since he could have some interesting differences between the consumption of nutrients that serve the bone depending on the type of food.

A range of studies analyzed bone density from four types of vegetarian diets: semivegetarian, which excludes only the consumption of meat as animal feed, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, which also rules out fish, but includes milk and eggs; lacto-vegetarian, which allows only milk and dairy products such as animal protein source, and the vegan diet, which dispenses with all foods of animal origin.

The analysis took into account nine studies, with a total sample of 869 women and 1880 men. The most relevant results revealed that vegetarians had 4% lower bone mineral density (femoral neck and lumbar spine) than omnivores. This parameter was lower in vegan, with 6% less bone thickness.

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