Skip to main content

Low Bone Mass in Subjects on a Long-term Raw Vegetarian Diet

Arch Intern Med -- Abstract: Low Bone Mass in Subjects on a Long-term Raw Vegetarian Diet, March 28, 2005, Fontana et al. 165 (6): 684

Low Bone Mass in Subjects on a Long-term Raw Vegetarian Diet

Luigi Fontana, MD, PhD; Jennifer L. Shew, BS; John O. Holloszy, MD; Dennis T. Villareal, MD

Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:684-689.

Background Little is known regarding the health effects of a raw food (RF) vegetarian diet.

Methods We performed a cross-sectional study on 18 volunteers (mean ± SD age, 54.2 ± 11.5 years; male/female ratio, 11:7) on a RF vegetarian diet for a mean of 3.6 years and a comparison age- and sex-matched group eating typical American diets. We measured body composition, bone mineral content and density, bone turnover markers (C-telopeptide of type I collagen and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase), C-reactive protein, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, insulin-like growth factor 1, and leptin in serum.

Results The RF vegetarians had a mean ± SD body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) of 20.5 ± 2.3, compared with 25.4 ± 3.3 in the control subjects. The mean bone mineral content and density of the lumbar spine (P= .003 and P<.001, respectively) and hip (P = .01 and P<.001, respectively) were lower in the RF group than in the control group. Serum C-telopeptide of type I collagen and bone-specific alkaline phosphatase levels were similar between the groups, while the mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was higher in the RF group than in the control group (P<.001). The mean serum C-reactive protein (P = .03), insulinlike growth factor 1 (P = .002), and leptin (P = .005) were lower in the RF group.

Conclusion A RF vegetarian diet is associated with low bone mass at clinically important skeletal regions but is without evidence of increased bone turnover or impaired vitamin D status.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Could Narcolepsy be caused by gluten? :: Kitchen Table Hypothesis

Kitchen Table Hypothesis from www.zombieinstitute.net - Heidi's new site It's commonly known that a severe allergy to peanuts can cause death within minutes. What if there were an allergy that were delayed for hours and caused people to fall asleep instead? That is what I believe is happening in people with Narcolepsy. Celiac disease is an allergy to gliadin, a specific gluten protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. In celiac disease the IgA antigliadin antibody is produced after ingestion of gluten. It attacks the gluten, but also mistakenly binds to and creates an immune reaction in the cells of the small intestine causing severe damage. There is another form of gluten intolerance, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, in which the IgA antigliadin bind to proteins in the skin, causing blisters, itching and pain. This can occur without any signs of intestinal damage. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a similar autoimmune reaction to gliadin, however it usually involves the...

Insulin Resistance- cause of ADD, diabetes, narcolepsy, etc etc

Insulin Resistance Insulin Resistance Have you been diagnosed with clinical depression? Heart disease? Type II, or adult, diabetes? Narcolepsy? Are you, or do you think you might be, an alcoholic? Do you gain weight around your middle in spite of faithfully dieting? Are you unable to lose weight? Does your child have ADHD? If you have any one of these symptoms, I wrote this article for you. Believe it or not, the same thing can cause all of the above symptoms. I am not a medical professional. I am not a nutritionist. The conclusions I have drawn from my own experience and observations are not rocket science. A diagnosis of clinical depression is as ordinary as the common cold today. Prescriptions for Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, etc., are written every day. Genuine clinical depression is a very serious condition caused by serotonin levels in the brain. I am not certain, however, that every diagnosis of depression is the real thing. My guess is that about 10 percent of the people taking ...

BBC NEWS | Technology | The ethical dilemmas of robotics

BBC NEWS | Technology | The ethical dilemmas of robotics If robots can feel pain, should they be granted certain rights? If robots develop emotions, as some experts think they will, should they be allowed to marry humans? Should they be allowed to own property? These questions might sound far-fetched, but debates over animal rights would have seemed equally far-fetched to many people just a few decades ago. Now, however, such questions are part of mainstream public debate. And the technology is progressing so fast that it is probably wise to start addressing the issues now. One area of robotics that raises some difficult ethical questions, and which is already developing rapidly, is the field of emotional robotics. More pressing moral questions are already being raised by the increasing use of robots in the military This is the attempt to endow robots with the ability to recognise human expressions of emotion, and to engage in behaviour that humans readily perceive as emotional. Huma...