Both men and women who follow a vegetarian diet are at increased risk for serious hip injuries.
- Vegetarians have a 50% higher risk of hip fracture than people who regularly eat meat.
- People following the pescetarian diet had a slightly higher risk of 8% than meat eaters.
- A low BMI could explain why the risk in vegetarians is higher.
“Hip fractures are a growing problem in an aging society and can lead to debilitating health problems and loss of quality of life,” said James Webster, a researcher at the University of Leeds (England), in a statement. In a recent study, he wanted to determine the risk of hip fracture in vegetarians. For this, his team analyzed data from 413,914 adults.
The information, which related to their diet, was categorized: people who ate meat five times a week or more, those who ate it occasionally, volunteers who followed a pescetarian diet, including fish and shellfish as the only source of protein, and vegetarians, who consume dairy products but no fish or meat. This data was linked to their medical records.
An estimated 50% risk of hip fracture in vegetarians
Among the participants, 3,503 cases of hip fracture, representing an overall incidence rate of less than one percent (0.8%), were recorded. According to the results, published in the journal BMC Medicine, the risk of hip fracture between vegetarians and regular meat eaters was significant. Volunteers who ate a vegetarian diet had a 50% higher risk than adults who ate meat regularly, regardless of gender. People who adopted the pescetarian diet had a slightly higher risk (8%) than regular meat eaters.
The authors calculated how these differences might translate into reality. They predicted that, on average, about six regular and six occasional meat eaters would suffer a hip fracture, while there would be seven cases among pescetarians and about nine cases among vegetarians.
Hip fracture: a low BMI in question
“Our analysis suggests that a low BMI may be a key factor in why their risk is higher. Additionally, vegetarians were about 17% less likely to meet protein recommendations than meat eaters. So important messages from our study are that vegetarians need to make sure they eat a balanced diet with enough protein and maintain a healthy BMI. This will help vegetarians maintain healthy bones and muscles.”concluded James Webster.