Study Finds Vegetarians Have Slightly Less Dense Bones

post from ShoppingBlog.com on 02 July 2009 02:00:00 PM. © ShoppingBlog.com

An Australian-Vietnamese study examing the connection between bone density and diet in 2,700 found that strict vegetarians had bones an average of 5% less dense than meat-eaters. The study found little difference between meat-eaters and ovolactovegetarians, people who eat eggs and dairy but not meat or fish.

The issue was most pronounced in vegans, who excluded all animal products from their diet and whose bones were six percent weaker, Nguyen said.

There was "practically no difference" between the bones of meat-eaters and ovolactovegetarians, who excluded meat and seafood but ate eggs and dairy products, he said.

"The results suggest that vegetarian diets, particularly vegan diets, are associated with lower bone mineral density," Nguyen wrote in the study, which was published Thursday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

There's another report on the study here on Science Alert. There was also a recent study that found vegetarians get less of certain types of cancer.

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