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HealthDay WEDNESDAY,
March 30 (HealthDay News) -- Vegetarians who eat only raw plant-derived foods
have abnormally low bone mass, usually an early sign of bone-thinning diseases
like osteoporosis, a new study finds. But the
researchers were surprised to learn that other measures of bone health -- such
as bone turnover and vitamin D status -- were normal in the strict vegetarians. "These
people have low bone mass but low bone mass is just one aspect of their risk for
fracture," said Dr. Luigi Fontana, lead author of the study, published in
the current issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. "They
had low bone mass, so clinically they are at increased risk for fracture. But
some of the other markers, like bone turnover, are normal and it's possible the
quality of the bone is preserved," he added. Still,
Fontana, a research instructor at Washington University in St. Louis, emphasized
he would never advise people to go on a raw-foods vegetarian diet, in which
people eat only plant-derived foods that have not been cooked, processed or
otherwise altered. "It's
too extreme," he said. Fontana's
team studied the effects of raw plant-derived eating plans partly because there
is a dearth of research on the diets and their impact. He compared the bone
density and such measures as vitamin D status in 18 people who ate a raw-foods
vegetarian diet for an average of 3.6 years. A control group consisted of
another 18 people who ate a typical American diet. The ages of both groups
ranged from 33 to 85 and none of the participants was concerned about their bone
health, he said. The
vegetarians ate about 1,285 to 2,432 calories a day, with about 9.1 percent of
those calories from protein, 43.2 percent from fat and 47.7 percent from
carbohydrates. Their intake of calcium and vitamin D was low, 579 milligrams and
16 units, respectively, a day. The
control group ate from 1,976 to 3,537 calories a day, with about 17.9 percent of
calories from protein, 32.1 percent from fat and 50 percent from carbohydrates.
Their intake of calcium and vitamin D was higher -- 1,093 milligrams and 348
units, respectively, a day. For
adults, 1,000 to 1,300 milligrams of calcium a day are recommended to help
prevent osteoporosis. The disease, characterized by porous bone and low bone
mass, affects at least 10 million people in the United States, according to the
National Osteoporosis Foundation. An
adequate intake of vitamin D for most adults below age 50 is 5 micrograms, or
200 units, according to the National Academy of Sciences. Vitamin D is also
important to bone health. The bone
mineral content and bone mineral density of the vegetarians were significantly
lower than the control group at all sites measured on the body -- lumbar spine,
hip and neck, Fontana said. The
T-scores of the vegetarians were lower than those in the control group. A
T-score compares a person's bone mineral density to the peak density of a
30-year-old healthy adult and determines the risk of fracture. A T-score between
plus one and minus one is considered normal, Fontana said. The
T-scores of the vegetarians at the lumbar spine averaged minus 2.1; for the
controls at the same site the score was minus 0.43. Another
expert familiar with the new study said the findings are "pretty
preliminary" but, like Fontana, cautioned people not to follow the extreme
raw-foods vegetarian diet. "The
numbers that concern me are that they have a low body mass index and their bone
mineral content and density is on the lower end," said Lona Sandon, an
assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center, in Dallas, and a spokeswoman for the American
Dietetic Association. Body mass
index is a ratio of height to weight and is used to assess health risks and
weight status. It was just 20 in the vegetarian group, Sandon noted. The control
group averaged a BMI was a little over 25. (A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 falls within
the normal range.) "Once
you get below 19.5, you are at risk of low bone mineral density long-term
because you don't have enough weight-bearing to keep your bone," Sandon
said. Based on
these findings, "you can't say it is OK to be on a raw-food vegetarian diet
for a long period of time," she added. |