"Vitamin D May Explain Higher Bone Fracture Risk in Vegans"
As I noted in my video on bone mineral density,
vegetarians had slightly lower bone mineral density in their spines.
Although the difference was basically within the margin of error
for the test, if the bone quality
really is compromised, it could lead to collapsed vertebrae,
increased spinal fracture risk, but there's no evidence for this.
The incidence of vertebral fracture was ascertained in older women
who had been vegan for most of their lives -- 34 years on average.
And despite their calcium intake being terrible, about half that
of the nonvegans, and a quarter of them vitamin D deficient,
the incidence of vertebral fractures was not significantly different.
Although the vegans had a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency
and lower dietary calcium intakes, the two factors
were not associated with bone loss.
In fact, the annual loss in bone mineral density in the hips
of vegans was less than half that of the meat eaters,
though the difference did not reach statistical significance.
Vegetarian women had not been found to be at higher risk
of any kind of fractures including wrist fractures in this case,
though among vegetarians, those who consumed the least
vegetable protein intake were at the highest risk for fracture.
Those who ate beans every day, or nuts, or like veggie burgers
only had a third of the wrist fractures compared to vegetarians
who only ate beans or other higher protein foods
less than three times a week.
So those that consume a vegan or vegetarian diet may be
at increased risk of fracture unless care is taken to ensure an adequate
quantity and variety of foods high in protein, such as whole grains,
nuts, and beans, split peas, chickpeas, or lentils are in the diet.
That's one of the reasons in my free Daily Dozen app
I recommend whole grains and legumes every day.
Hip fractures are even more serious. Those eating legumes,
like beans every day, reduced their risk of hip fracture
by more than 60%, compared to 40% lower risk from meat protein,
with plant-based meats coming in in between
with about 50% lower risk of hip fractures.
What's the bottom line on plant-based diets and
bone health according to this 2020 review?
Theoretically, a long-term plant-based diet may reduce
the risk of osteoporosis, but that has yet to be demonstrated.
What we do know is that plant-based diets, when ensuring
adequate calcium and vitamin D levels,
don't appear to have any detrimental effects on bone health.
But this was published August 2020.
In November 2020, the 12-year follow-up to the study I talked about
in my last video on comparative fracture risk in vegetarians
versus nonvegetarians
was published, finding that non-meat eaters, especially vegans,
had higher risks of total bone fractures,
including at sites associated with osteoporosis such as hip fractures.
It comes out to be about 20 more cases in vegans for every 1000
people over 10 years.
So if indeed this is cause-and-effect, eating vegan there would be
an annual 1 in 500 chance of having a bone fracture
that you otherwise might not have had.
Was it because they weren't eating enough beans?
Apparently not, since vegans getting more protein
still apparently had higher risk.
Maybe it was because they weren't getting enough calcium?
Apparently not, since vegans getting more calcium
still apparently had higher risk.
What about bone and vitamin B12? If you remember EPIC-Oxford,
where the bone data comes from,
is the same group of British vegans who had rampant B12 deficiency.
More than half the vegans were B12 deficient because they
weren't adequately supplementing with B12 or B12-fortified foods.
This can lead to high homocysteine levels,
which not only increase stroke risk,
but may increase the activity of bone-eating cells.
This was in a petri dish, but you do indeed see low bone mineral density
in those born with a birth defect that leads to high homocysteine
levels in the blood. Therefore,
high serum homocysteine may be regarded as a factor
that can reduce both bone mass and quality,
but you don't know until you put it to the test.
And homocysteine-lowering treatment failed to reduce
the risk of bone fracture. So in the end, the effect of B12
deficiency in bone health remains to be established.
OK, so how do we explain the higher fracture rates found among vegans?
The investigators conclude that their findings suggest that bone health
in vegans requires further research, but there were some clues.
The elevated fracture risk, both for total fractures
and for hip fractures specifically,
was only significant for those under a BMI of 22.5,
which is like under about 130 pounds for a woman of average height.
So part of the problem is that vegans tend to be so slender on average.
Why are overweight and obese individuals protected from fractures?
Well, think about it. They have cushioning during a fall.
There's more of a cushion on your hips.
Also, there's an enzyme in fatty tissue that churns out estrogen,
which is why women increase their breast cancer risk
a percentage point for every pound they gain in adulthood.
But estrogen can also have a bone-preserving effect.
Now you can get the best of both worlds consuming soy foods,
preventing bone loss while at the same time associated
with lessening breast cancer risk for both estrogen
receptor positive tumors and estrogen receptor negative tumors.
Finally, overweight and obese individuals may also have
stronger bones just from the increased weight-bearing.
Carrying 100 extra pounds, you're doing major
weight bearing exercise just walking across the room.
So the risk difference they saw between vegans and meat eaters
were likely at least partially due to the difference in BMI.
My money, however, is on vitamin D.
Great Britain is at Canadian latitudes.
The sun's rays are at such an angle
during the winter months up there that the vitamin D levels among
British vegans in the wintertime drops down to suboptimal levels.
Ideally, we should be up around 75 nanomoles per liter,
or 30 nanograms per milliliter depending on what units you're using,
which the vegans nail in the summer. It is the sunshine vitamin after all.
But in the winter, not getting the vitamin D added to dairy or
found naturally in oily fish, if vegans aren't supplementing at that latitude
during the winter, their vitamin D levels may drop too low.
Now randomized controlled trials show that vitamin D alone
does not seem to reduce fracture rates,
but boosting people's D and calcium at the same time does.
So maybe it was a combination of the relatively low D and calcium intakes
among the vegans that led to their higher fracture rates.
We won't know for sure until it's actually put to the test,
and when it is you can be sure I'll do a video about it.