Source: news.yahoo.com
People who live on vegetarian diets have slightly weaker bones than their meat-eating counterparts, Australian researchers said Thursday.
A joint Australian-Vietnamese study of links between the bones and diet of more than 2,700 people found that vegetarians had bones five percent less dense than meat-eaters, said lead researcher Tuan Nguyen.
The issue was most pronounced in vegans, who excluded all animal products from their diet and whose bones were six percent weaker, Nguyen said.
There was “practically no difference” between the bones of meat-eaters and ovolactovegetarians, who excluded meat and seafood but ate eggs and dairy products, he said.
“The results suggest that vegetarian diets, particularly vegan diets, are associated with lower bone mineral density,” Nguyen wrote in the study, which was published Thursday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
“But the magnitude of the association is clinically insignificant,” he added.
Nguyen, who is from Sydney’s Garvan Institute for Medical Research and collaborated on the project with the Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine in Ho Chi Minh City, said the question of whether the lower density bones translated to increased fracture risk was yet to be answered.
“Given the rising number of vegetarians, roughly five percent (of people) in western countries, and the widespread incidence of osteoporosis, the issue is worth resolving,” he said.
But how does an individual create an ovolactovegetarian cooking pantry? Here are some tips and suggestions.
NON-PERISHABLE DRY GOODS
• Beans, canned
• Black beans
• Black-eyed peas
• Chickpeas (garbanzos)
• Great northern beans (cannellini)
• Pink beans
• Pinto beans
• Red or kidney beans
Grains:
• Barley
• Bulgur
• Couscous
• Rice (long-grain brown, basmati, arborio, quick-cooking, etc.)
• Quinoa
• Wild rice
Oils:
• Dark sesame oil
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Light olive oil
Tomato products, canned:
• Diced, in 14- to 16-ounce cans
• Crushed or pureed, in 14, 16, and 28-ounce cans
• Tomato sauce
Vinegars:
• Balsamic (dark and/or white)
• Red wine or white wine vinegar
• Rice vinegar (for Asian-style cooking)
PREPARED CONDIMENTS, SAUCES, AND SUCH
• Barbecue sauce (great for broiling or stir-frying tofu, tempeh, or seitan)
• Pasta (marinara) sauce
• Pizza sauce
• Salad dressings (choose natural, low-fat varieties of your favorites)
• Salsa, tomato-based, mild to hot as you prefer
• Salsa, tomatillo
• Thai peanut sauce
• Stir-fry sauce
PANTRY VEGETABLES
• Garlic
• Onions (yellow, red, or both)
• Potatoes, white (red-skinned are an excellent all-purpose potato)
• Potatoes, sweet (for fall and winter)
REFRIGERATOR STAPLES
• Butter or margarine (both to be used quite sparingly; look for a brand that is free of hydrogenated oils and trans-fatty acids)
• Cheeses, shredded (low-fat if preferred, or soy cheese)
• Parmesan cheese, grated fresh (or if you prefer, try Parmesan-style soy cheese)
• Ketchup
• Lemons
• Mayonnaise (preferably commercially prepared tofu mayonnaise)
• Milk, low-fat, or soy milk
• Mustard, prepared
• Tofu
• Yogurts, plain and flavored
