Veggies for bone health - Updates

Better Nutrition, Nov, 2002

A diet high in vegetables and fruits may be your best protection against osteoporosis, concludes a July 2002 study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers in Boston have discovered new dietary choices that can help protect against osteoporosis, and they've also concluded that sweet baked goods are definitely not a good bone-building option.

While previous research has shown that calcium and vitamin D help preserve bone density, less is known about the effects of other nutrients on bone health.

Scientists at the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston interviewed more than 900 men and women aged 69 to 93 about their diets, measuring bone density at a number of different skeletal sites.

The researchers categorized the subjects' diets into one of six groups according to the foods the individuals derived the bulk of their calories from: meat, dairy and bread; meat and sweet baked products; sweet baked products; alcohol; candy; and fruits, vegetables and cereal.

Men in the latter group--those who consumed primarily fruits and vegetables--had the densest bones overall, while women in the sweet-baked-goods group had the lowest average bone mineral density (BMD) at the majority of skeletal sites.

BMD levels measured at the hip, for instance, were nearly 12 percent lower among women in the sweet-baked-goods group as compared to women in the group that primarily ate fruits, vegetables and cereals.