Vegetarian girls have 33 per cent increased danger of breaking a hip

A big examine monitoring girls within the UK finds that vegetarians have the next danger of breaking a hip in contrast with girls who eat any quantity of meat

By Clare Wilson

The danger of breaking a hip is a 3rd increased for girls who’re vegetarian than those that are common meat eaters, based on a big UK examine.

The rise in danger might come up from meat-free diets tending to have much less protein, which helps construct muscle mass, and attainable deficiencies in nutritional vitamins and minerals, reminiscent of calcium and vitamin B12, which assist strengthen bones.

Ladies usually tend to break their hips than males, particularly as they become old, as a result of after the menopause, ranges of the intercourse hormone oestrogen fall, resulting in weaker bones. Damaged hips are a big reason behind deaths in older individuals as they’re onerous to get better from and can lead to prolonged immobility and well being problems. “The impact on well being is fairly massive,” says James Webster on the College of Leeds, UK.

Earlier research have recommended that vegetarians and vegans have weaker bones, so Webster’s group took benefit of a giant ongoing examine that has tracked the well being and life-style of over 26,000 girls within the UK for about 20 years. They had been aged between 35 and 69 at recruitment, and none had been transgender so far as the researchers know.

General, about 3 per cent of individuals broke their hip throughout that point. Those that had been vegetarian had a 33 per cent increased danger of this taking place in contrast with those that consumed meat not less than 5 instances per week.

There was no distinction in danger between common meat eaters and people who ate lesser quantities, or simply ate fish. Vegans weren’t included within the examine.

Different analysis has discovered that being vegetarian is best for well being in several methods – for example, it’s linked with a decrease danger of coronary heart illness. All such research, together with the newest one, are observational, nonetheless, and so can’t show that weight loss plan causes totally different well being patterns – solely that there are correlations.

Such research could make meat-free diets appear extra useful than they are surely as a result of vegetarians often have more healthy life in different methods, reminiscent of avoiding smoking and heavy ingesting. The greatest type of medical proof comes from randomised trials, however these are onerous to do for a significant dietary alternative reminiscent of whether or not or to not eat meat.

Webster says the newest findings shouldn’t make individuals give up vegetarianism, as individuals can get protein from dairy merchandise and pulses and might take vitamin dietary supplements or use calcium-fortified dairy merchandise if mandatory.

Jen Elford on the Vegetarian Society says: “It is very important hold this difficulty in proportion – outcomes for the well being of vegetarians are usually superb. Fracture danger is mostly correlated with consumption of calcium and vitamin D and so the necessity to guarantee dependable intakes of those vitamins is highlighted.”

Journal reference: BMC Drugs, DOI: 10.1186/s12916-022-02468-0

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