 Notes
from Vegan Outreach
Vegans, Shows, and Rock-and-Roll
Musicians around the world are
using their music to promote animal
welfare and vegetarianism. Two Massachusetts
artists -- Kyle Vincent and inblackandwhite
-- shared with us their experiences
distributing Vegan Outreach materials
on their recent concert tours.
You can read the article, compiled
by Jenna Calabrese, here.
New Study Answers Questions about
the Vegan Diet, Calcium, and Bone
Health
-Jack Norris, RD
If you’ve been a vegan for long,
you’ve probably heard that:
- Too much protein, especially
animal protein, is the major cause
of osteoporosis.
- Not only does dairy not protect
against osteoporosis, it actually
contributes to it.
- Calcium intake isn’t very important
for protecting against osteoporosis.
Finally, you might have come to
the conclusion that the lower levels
of protein in a vegan diet protect
against osteoporosis.
For almost ten years now, Vegan
Outreach has cautioned vegans that
the jury was still out on these
issues and that vegans should try
to meet the U.S. recommended intakes
for calcium. In recent years, the
evidence has been mounting against
the above statements. In February
of 2007, a study was released, the
first study of its kind, that gives
us pretty good answers to these
questions. (1)
The EPIC-Oxford study recruited
57,000 participants, including over
1,000 vegans and almost 10,000 lacto-ovo
vegetarians (LOV), from 1993 to
2000. They were asked to fill out
a questionnaire to measure what
they ate. About 5 years after entering
the study, they were sent a follow-up
questionnaire asking if they had
suffered any bone fractures.
After adjusting for age alone,
the vegans had a 37% higher fracture
rate than meat-eaters. After adjusting
for age, smoking, alcohol consumption,
body mass, physical activity, marital
status, and births and hormone replacement
therapy for women, the vegans still
had a 30% higher fracture rate.
That’s not good news; in fact,
it’s something I’ve feared for some
time now given the vegan propaganda
about animal protein, calcium, and
bones which has fostered complacency
among vegans about calcium and vitamin
D.
Yet, there is some good news in
this study. When calcium intake
was adjusted for, the vegans no
longer had a higher rate of fractures.
And among the subjects who got 525
mg of calcium a day (only 55% of
the vegans compared to about 95%
of the other diet groups), vegans
had the same fracture rates as the
other diet groups. (And if you’re
wondering about how the other diet
groups (meat-eaters, fish-eaters,
and LOV) fared over all, none of
them differed from each other in
any of the analyses performed.)
Does this mean lower calcium intakes
are the cause of the fractures?
It could be that people who eat
more calcium also eat more or less
protein or get more vitamin D. The
authors noted that fracture rates
did not correlate with protein or
vitamin D intake among the people
in this study. For now, we should
assume that calcium is what the
vegans with higher fracture rates
were lacking.
The study did not measure calcium
intake from supplements. I’m not
sure if this affected the results,
but for now I would assume it did
not.
The US recommended intake for calcium
is 1,000 mg for most adults. The
UK’s recommended intake is 700 mg.
You can get this much calcium by
having 3 servings of high calcium
foods (fortified drinks, large portion
of high calcium greens, and calcium
tablets) each day. I drink soymilk
fortified with calcium on most days
and take a 500 mg calcium pill each
night before bed.
More information on calcium, vitamin
D, and bones can be found at VeganHealth.org
on this page: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/bones
Footnote
1. Appleby P, Roddam A, Allen N,
Key T. Comparative fracture risk
in vegetarians and nonvegetarians
in EPIC-Oxford. Eur J Clin Nutr.
2007 Feb 7; [Epub ahead of print]
http://tinyurl.com/2ms6kq
Product of the Week
 Pippi:
For great taste -- www.buykind.com
and it's fun. You go there and find
a restaurant, or menu that tempts
your tastebuds and order. . .Ta
Da! Food arrives at your door! They
also have vegan chocolates, organic/fair
trade coffee, vegan wine and other
fun stuff. Check it out! It's fun
and it's super YUM!
Send your nominees for Product
of the Week to product
(at) veganoutreach (dot) org;
previous products can be found here.
Notes from All
Over
 On
or around March 20 -- the first
day of spring -- thousands of caring
people in all 50 US states and around
the world will hold informative
and educational events for The
Great American Meatout.
Events will include colorful 'lifestivals,'
street theater, lectures, public
dinners, cooking demos, food samplings,
leafleting, information tables,
and a Congressional Reception in
Washington, DC. You can learn more
here;
if you are going to distribute Vegan
Outreach booklets for your event,
please
order them by tomorrow,
March 1.
You can see previous
issues of Vegan Outreach's e-newsletter
here.
To unsubscribe, follow the link
at the bottom of this message.
Vegan Outreach
P.O. Box 38492
Pittsburgh, PA 15238
VO is a 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization; all donations
are tax-deductible. |
