Vegetarian diet 'weakens bones'

[John McDougall]

This article published ahead of time in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition was by the same authors as the vegan osteoporosis article I published in my June 2009 newsletter. The article I reported on received little press worldwide and showed results very favorable for a vegan diet and bone health. http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2009nl/jun/fav5.htm.

This study showing negative effects of a vegan diet was a meta-analysis and these kinds of studies are notorious for showing bias and are easily manipulated by the choice of studies included or excluded in the analysis. There are many other criticisms that could be directed to this publication but the most important question to ask is why did this article get so much attention and the other one by the same authors published at the same time received almost none?

One fact you should know is the meta-analysis article suggesting vegan diets may be bad for the bones (slightly lower BMD) was funded by a AMBeR alliance incorporated in Malaysia, which owns Amber F&B Nutrition Sdn Bhd, a dairy products producer and wholesaler.

You can write the authors at: [email protected] ask your questions about the studies and why the one paid for by dairy money received so much world attention.

Reference to financial ties: http://www.alacrastore.com/deal-snapsho ... Bhd-462633

[Clary]

I'm sticking with Dr. McDougall.

That's my solution, too, username.

I envy your trip to the live-in program and hope to be able to attend at some time in the future.

Can you share some of your experiences and insights from your stay at the program?

[ncyg46]

and I bounce well...went flying over a 3 foot wall with a barrel cactus in the dark and hit my head. Got up and walked home....I was 5'5" at 18 and 5'5" at 62 so I guess my bones are okay!

[alazzia]

Delurking to post this link to an earlier study by the same guy (same name and institute, at least) in which he found that the bones of vegans and non-vegans had identical density:

Here

Also of interest, one of the founding bodies of the Garvan Institute is CRC for Innovative Dairy Products.

Quote from the earlier study:

“Bone health in vegetarians, particularly vegans, has been a concern for some time, because as a group they tend to have a lower protein and calcium intake than the population at large.”

“In this work we showed that although the vegans studied do indeed have lower protein and calcium intakes, their bone density is virtually identical to that of people who eat a wide variety of foods, including animal protein.”

Edited to add link.

[TominTN]

So the lie is "Vegan diet weakens bones."

The truth is "Biased media weakens humanity."