Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
October 2011
Do vegetarians have stronger bones than meat-eaters? If you've ever played a game of pick-up-sticks you already have some insight into the nature of the problem. Displacing one stick might move the whole pile — or it might not. Osteoporosis is enormously complex. Manipulating one factor might or might not make a difference.
There is overall consensus among nutritional scientists that persons who eat a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables are less likely to develop heart disease and several types of cancer than those who regularly eat meat. There are also studies indicating that the bones of vegetarians, including pure vegans and ovo-lacto-vegetarians (those who include eggs and dairy products) are less dense than those of omnivores (persons who eat both animal and plant foods).
Just as there are marked differences between the diets of different types of vegetarians, there are enormous differences among omnivores. A meat-eater who avoids refined grains, refined sugars, processed meats and junk food can expect to remain healthy and long-lived. Whether or not either type of diet advocate remains free of osteoporosis is largely dependent on how much physical activity they engage in during the bone-building window between entry into kindergarten and graduation from college. Vegan, vegetarian or meat-eater, all need to maintain regular physical activity for the remainder of their lives in order to avoid bone loss.
Studies on diet and osteoporosis often fail to take the matter of physical activity into consideration. Some vegetarian groups do have less dense bone structure than non-vegetarians but they do not necessarily have more fractures. They don't get as much calcium as meat-and-dairy eaters either, but plenty of research shows that there is no correlation between calcium intake and fractures. In spite of the general perception, osteoporosis is not a calcium-deficiency disease.
Not all vegetarians are good menu-planners. Some fail to include adequate protein, a major factor in maintaining bone health. Those who eat enough plant protein have normal bones. A high intake of plant foods leads to less calcium loss through the kidneys than a diet that is high in animal protein. That may help to explain why persons in Third World countries whose diet is mostly vegetarian but low in calcium have lower rates of osteoporosis and hip fracture than the privileged populations of the Western world.
The bottom line: a well-planned vegetarian diet is healthy and neither increases nor decreases the risk of osteoporosis.
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.