Vegetarian diet 'weakens bones' Thu Jul 2, 6:31 am ET SYDNEY (AFP) â People who live on vegetarian diets have slightly weaker bones than their meat-eating counterparts, Australian researchers said Thursday. A joint Australian-Vietnamese study of links between the bones and diet of more than 2,700 people found that vegetarians had bones five percent less dense than meat-eaters, said lead researcher Tuan Nguyen. 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. "But the magnitude of the association is clinically insignificant," he added. Nguyen, who is from Sydney's Garvan Institute for Medical Research and collaborated on the project with the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine in Ho Chi Minh City, said the question of whether the lower density bones translated to increased fracture risk was yet to be answered. "Given the rising number of vegetarians, roughly five percent (of people) in western countries, and the widespread incidence of osteoporosis, the issue is worth resolving," he said. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090702/hl_afp/healthfooddietaustraliavietnam/print
1)Osteoporos Int. 2009 Apr 7. Veganism, bone mineral density, and body composition: a study in Buddhist nuns. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that, although vegans have much lower intakes of dietary calcium and protein than omnivores, veganism does not have adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body composition. ps Great study because Buddhist nuns don't cheat on their diet 2) Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2008;17(1):101-6 Bone mineral density of vegetarian and non-vegetarian adults in Taiwan. Diet is thought to be one of the leading causes of bone mineral loss in aging people. In this study, we explored the potential impact of a vegetarian diet on bone mineral density (BMD) in adult Taiwanese men and women. This was a cross-sectional study of the relationship between diet (vegetarian versus non-vegetarian) and BMD and the incidence of osteoporosis. Bone mineral density was determined in a cohort of 1865 adult male and female patients who underwent routine examination in a regional teaching hospital in Taiwan between February 2003 and February 2004. Subjects with definite vertebral problems, known osteopathy, or poor posture were excluded. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) was used to determine BMD, on the right hip in men and on lumbar vertebrae L2 to L4 in women. The subjects were grouped according to sex and diet, and were then stratified by age within each of the four groups. The outcome measures were the BMD value and the incidence of osteopenia or osteoporosis according to defined criteria. Bone mineral density gradually declined with increasing age in Taiwanese men, while Taiwanese women showed a precipitous decrease in BMD after the 5th decade. However, no statistical differences in BMD were observed between vegetarians and non-vegetarians of either sex. The proportion of subjects with osteopenia or osteoporosis also appeared comparable between vegetarians and non-vegetarians of either sex. BMD shows an age-related decline in Taiwanese men and women, and eating a vegetarian diet does not appear to affect this decline. on the other hand lots of MEAT .. "For 7 years the researchers at UCSF followed a group of 1,035 women aged between 65 and 80, all of whom are enrolled in the larger Osteoporotic Fractures Study currently taking place in the United States. The researchers found that the women who ate 4 times as much animal protein as vegetable protein had 3 times the rate of bone loss, and 3.7 times the rate of hip fractures compared to the women who ate equal amounts of both animal and vegetable protein. "Even after adjusting for all the things that could impact the relationship between high animal protein intake to bone loss and hip fractures, the relationship was still there," said Dr. Deborah Sellmeyer, one of the investigators involved in the study." http://health.redorbit.com/TextItem.aspx?id=2140 EAT YOUR MEAT EAT YOURMEAT EATYOURMEAT for thin bones LOL ps don't forget hEaRt dIseAse
This is quote from killthesunshine article: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The message is that we need more base in our diets," Dr. Sellmeyer said. Rather than eating less animal protein, we should think of eating more vegetables. "There is no doubt that protein is really important. Studies involving people who have had hip fractures have shown that if they receive supplemental protein in their diets after their fractures, they heal better, and they get back on their feet faster," Dr. Sellmeyer said. "We need protein, but we must neutralize the acid. The best way to do that is to eat more fruits and vegetables ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So they are not saying do not eat meat, but saying eat more of fruits and vegetables with meat. A balance.
Dietary Fat Linked To Pancreatic Cancer ScienceDaily (June 27, 2009) â High intake of dietary fats from red meat and dairy products was associated with an increased risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a new study published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. This study was undertaken because research relating fat intake to pancreatic cancer was inconclusive. To examine the association, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, Ph.D., of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., and colleagues analyzed a cohort of over 500,000 people from the National Institutes of Health â AARP Diet and Health Study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire in 1995 and 1996 and were followed prospectively for an average of 6 years to track a variety of health outcomes, including pancreatic cancer. Men and women who consumed high amounts of total fats had 53% and 23% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer, respectively, compared with men and women who had the lowest fat consumption. Participants who consumed high amounts of saturated fats had 36% higher relative rates of pancreatic cancer compared with those who consumed low amounts. "[W]e observed positive associations between pancreatic cancer and intakes of total, saturated, and monounsaturated fat overall, particularly from red meat and dairy food sources. We did not observe any consistent association with polyunsaturated or fat from plant food sources," the authors write. "Altogether, these results suggest a role for animal fat in pancreatic carcinogenesis." In an accompanying editorial, Brian M. Wolpin, M.D., MPH, of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and Meir J. Stampfer, M.D., DrPH, of the Harvard School of Public Health, call the study well-performed and a good addition to the understanding of pancreatic cancer. They do note, however, that there is insufficient epidemiological and laboratory evidence to confirm the importance of animal fats or even that meat is the important factor, as opposed to other dietary or lifestyle preferences associated with meat consumption. "[W]ith further investigation, this work has the potential to provide interesting clues to the mechanisms underlying pancreatic tumorigenesis," the editorialists write.
Vegetarianism: What the Science Tells Us http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/vegetarianism.html
If humans were intended to eat only vegetables, our teeth would be similar to that of a cow's teeth- mostly flat with no canines.