Doing weight training regularly would protect vegans from fractures, according to a study.
- 5% of the world’s population (375 million people) are vegetarian or vegan.
- Strength training would be more beneficial than cycling or swimming for bone strength.
Vegans or vegans, whose lifestyle combines an exclusive plant-based diet and the refusal to consume any product (clothing, shoes, cosmetics, etc.) derived from animals or their exploitation, should integrate bodybuilding into their menu, according to researchers.
Increased risk
Indeed, this population has a lower bone mineral density and is therefore exposed to an increased risk of fracture, compared to omnivores. For example, they have a twice the average risk to break the hip since lovers of meat products would consume more calcium, important components of bones, and proteins that facilitate the absorption of calcium from food.
According to Heather Russell, dietitian at the Vegan Society in the UK interviewed by The New Scientist, “It’s totally possible to take care of your bones by following a well-constructed vegan diet, but being informed is essential to making good health choices.”
Resistance exercises
And the right choices would also go through the sport practiced. Indeed, this tendency to have weaker bones would be reduced if followers of the vegan diet followed resistance exercises, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
In this study, the authors compared data from 43 men and women on a plant-based diet for at least five years and 45 men and women on an omnivorous diet.
Researchers found that vegan participants who did strength training at least once a week had stronger bones than those who didn’t.
