Vegans rattle ideas about bones

Vegans rattle ideas about bones

"Vegans rattle ideas about bones
Reuters, April 2, 2005

People who eat nothing but raw vegetarian food can still be healthy, US researchers reported.

Although nutritionists and the food industry have warned that a diet without dairy foods can lead to the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, the research team at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis found the vegans they studied had many of the signs of strong bones.

'We think it's possible these people don't have increased risk of fracture but that their low bone mass is related to the fact that they are lighter because they take in fewer calories,' Dr Luigi Fontana said.

'Because of their low calorie and low protein intake, raw food vegetarians have a low body mass index (BMI) and a low total body fat content. It is well documented that a low BMI and weight loss are strongly associated with low bone mass and increased fracture risk, while obesity protects against osteoporosis,' Dr Fontana's team wrote in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine."

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