According to the findings in a new study people who don’t eat meat, vegans in particular might be at a higher risk for bone fractures.
The research was done at the University of Oxford. It found that meatless eaters and vegans in particular were at a higher risk overall for fractures but also some specific fractures, like hip fractures.
Researchers came to this conclusion by studying almost 55,000 people around the age of 50. They were studied over four years in 1993-2001. They were put into four groups: meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans.
The researchers found that vegetarians where at +9% risk for any kind of fracture when compare to meat eaters and vegans were at a shocking +43% risk.
When it came to hip fractures vegans had a 2.3 times higher risk for hip fractures when compare to meat eaters. Vegetarians and fish eaters were only at about +25% risk of a hip fracture.
Researchers adjusted for calcium and protein intake but even then all non-meat eaters were still at increased risk for fractures even though the risk factor did go down slightly after the adjustment.