Meat-free diets linked with greater risk of breaking bones | Hacker News Reader

Meat-free diets linked with greater risk of breaking bones

newscientist.com

The work is supported by the UK Medical Research Council MR/M012190/1 and Wellcome Trust Our Planet Our Health (Livestock, Environment, and People, LEAP 205212/Z/16/Z).

And, conversely, a larger study showcases that consumption of milk increases risk of hip fracture and mortality [0]. Also, take a look into the "Blue Zones" - areas globally which "...are areas across the globe where people tend to live the longest and have remarkably low rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity." [1] All of those areas have a very similar diet: mostly plant based. These people aren't breaking hips. A great book that's centered on fact based research of over 600+ medical studies by a renowned gastroenterologist is "Fiber Fueled" [2].

[0] https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g6015 [1] https://www.verywellhealth.com/blue-zone-diet-foods-4159314 [2] https://theplantfedgut.com/research/

“The effect may stem from a lack of calcium and protein in their diet, as well as the fact that they tend to be thinner and so have less flesh to cushion a fall.”

Been mostly vegan for about a year now, still got a booty. I wish they would have talked about activity, like could it purely be that non meat eaters engage in more activities that put them at risk for breaking bones? A study comparing athletes on meat versus non-meat diets and injury would be interesting.

I'd be curious to also see research done using (1) calcium serum levels and (2) bone density, comparing meat-heavy, meat-light, pescetarian, ovo-lacto vegetarian, and vegan diets.

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1291...

Reading over the actual study, it looks like they attempted to control for lifestyle confounders:

> All analyses were stratified by sex, method of recruitment, and region of residence, and adjusted for year of recruitment, ethnicity, Townsend deprivation index, education level, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, dietary supplement use, height, and in women menopausal status, hormone replacement therapy use, and parity.

But they don't mention if the controlled for activities that bring greater risk of breaking bones. Eg rock climbing or boxing carry greater risk of fractures than eg swimming or weight-lifting, despite being grouped into the same "physical activity" bucket.

They do cite other work done which examines bone density and calcium serum levels in the populations they discuss. See citations 2 through 7.

Even within the meat-heavy category, there is a world of difference between boiled chicken and crispy-fried hot dog slices. That kind of difference might account for all the negative effects of meat in the diet.

Anecdotally some elite athletes who have experimented with vegan diets reported that they had more trouble recovering from injuries. (No I don't have a good citation for that; the nature of the issue makes it difficult to conduct a properly controlled study.)

Is this study sponsored by meat-related billion dollar businesses ?

You can check any journal article to see a statement of competing interests.

https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1291...

You don’t need meat. But a modern vegan diet of refined carbs is going to require vitamin and mineral supplements. Iron pills have made a big difference for me.

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