How does vegetarianism affect fracture rates?
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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Representatives of the University of Leeds claim that vegetarians have a 50% higher incidence of femoral neck fracture than "meat-eaters". This figure looks quite impressive, but on the whole, it is not so bad.
Scientists carefully studied the medical histories of more than four hundred thousand people, which were collected over several years. The participants were divided into several categories. The first category included people who eat meat dishes at least five days a week. The second category includes those who eat meat, but somewhat less often. The third category included people who eat fish instead of meat. The fourth category includes vegetarians who eat neither meat nor fish dishes.
The total number of cases of femoral neck fractures among the participants was about 3,500. Among them, about half of the cases were recorded in vegetarians. Sex was not taken into account in the study.
Similar work by scientists has been done before, but in previous studies it was noted that such an injury is more typical for women. The new study showed that vegetarian men are more prone to femoral neck fracture.
There was no appreciable difference between participants who frequently or infrequently consumed meat dishes. People who consumed only fish dishes suffered fractures 8% more often, but experts believe that this figure is unstable.
So what conclusions can be drawn about the 50% fracture rate in vegetarians? In general, there is nothing critical about this value. It only indicates that there will be three more femoral neck fractures per thousand vegetarians in one decade than in a thousand meat eaters.
To all of the above, scientists say that, despite the disadvantage discovered, the advantages of vegetarianism are much greater. For example, those who do not eat meat are much less likely to develop cardiovascular pathologies, tumor processes. In addition, in most cases, a properly constructed vegetarian diet allows you to prevent the occurrence of fractures.
What do experts advise? Vegetarianism is an excellent dietary system for people leading a healthy lifestyle. However, any food restriction should be approached in a balanced way, include in the diet vegetable sources of calcium: seeds, sesame, soy. Also for normal calcium absorption, certain vitamins and trace elements are needed. For example, it is important to have enough magnesium and protein products: only a proper combination of calcium with magnesium and proteins (even if vegetable) can strengthen bone tissue.
What will allow calcium to be better absorbed? First of all, vitamin D, which is present in nettle and parsley leaves, among others. Vitamin C (citrus fruits, rose hips and broccoli), vitamin K (spinach and cabbage), phosphorus (pumpkin seeds and bran, soy and lentils), magnesium (almonds, dates, carrots and spinach) are also important.
We should not forget that, in addition to proper nutrition, regular physical activity is necessary for bone strength.
Information can be found at of BMC Medicine