A vegetarian diet is generally considered very healthy. However, researchers at the University of Leeds in the UK have found that women who avoid meat have a 33 percent higher risk of hip fracture. The study was published in the journal “BMC Medicine”.
This may be due to a lack of nutrients such as calcium and protein, which affect bone and muscle health: “These nutrients are naturally more common in meat and other animal products than in plant foods,” explains study author James Webster. A deficiency can make you more susceptible to fractures, so it is important to keep these in mind when avoiding animal products. It was also shown that vegetarians in the study more often had a lower BMI than meat eaters. Previous studies have shown that being underweight is also a risk factor for fractures.
However, the results are not a warning against a meatless diet, the study authors emphasize: “Vegetarian is not the same as vegetarian: Such a diet can be healthy or unhealthy, just like a diet with animal products,” said Webster. It is important to provide the body with all the important vitamins and minerals and to supplement them if necessary if the body is lacking them.
For the study, the scientists examined 26,318 women over the age of 20. Of these, 822 sustained a hip fracture. After controlling for other factors such as smoking or age, vegetarians were the only group with an increased risk of hip fracture.
Which: DOI 10.1186/s12916-022-02468-0