Are vegans at risk of fractures?

Bone fractures are a potentially debilitating risk of aging. The best way to support bone health and avoid factures is also one of the most controversial topics in medicine. Should you drink milk or not? Take calcium or not? Eat meat or not?

Let’s look at the latest study to make sense of this issue.

A team of researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Bristol in the UK analysed data from nearly 55,000 people in the EPIC-Oxford study. Participants were followed for about 18 years to evaluate how their diets affected their risk of fracture.

Compared with people who ate meat, vegans had a 43% higher risk of total fractures, as well as higher risks of site-specific fractures of the hips, legs and vertebrae.

The biggest difference was for hip fractures, where the risk in vegans was 2.3 times higher than in people who ate meat. That’s equivalent to 15 more hip fractures per 1000 people over 10 years.

Vegans also tended to have lower body mass index (BMI) and lower intakes of calcium and protein than meat eaters—all of which have previously been found to increase the risk of fractures. Still, the association between eating a vegan diet and having a higher fracture risk remained significant even after all of these factors were accounted for.

Bone health depends on more than just diet alone. We know you can build stronger bones by…

👍Exercising (especially with weights or resistance)

👍 Not smoking

👍 Limiting alcohol intake

👍 Optimizing your vitamin D

Here are some foods rich in nutrients necessary for strong bones:

🥦 Green leafy vegetables: broccoli, spinach, cabbage
🥦 Legumes
🥦 Sesame seeds/tahini
🥦 Nuts and seeds
🥦 Avocados
🥦 Whole grains

We always take a holistic approach and consider you as a unique individual. There is never one right diet for everybody or one right protocol for bone health. Email us—what is one thing you do every day for your bones?

Reference

Tong TYN, Appleby PN, Armstrong MEG et al. Vegetarian and vegan diets and risks of total and site-specific fractures: results from the prospective EPIC-Oxford study. BMC Med. 2020; 18: 353. https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-020-01815-3

Photo by Harlie Raethel on Unsplash