Prevent Bone Loss: Eat Fruits!

By Eccentric Vegan on June 27th, 2009

A new study points to potassium in fruits as a bone-saver, not calcium in dairy or supplements:
"a group of 176 post-menopausal women was randomized to one of four diets based on a different protein source: animal, dairy, soy, or vegetarian. All diets were equal in calories as well as in total amounts of protein, calcium, and salt. Dietitians bought the food, weighed and measured it, and prepared it. Study participants picked up their meals every day for eight weeks."

"We used actual food that real people could buy in the store to see what kind of impact we could have", Sellmeyer [the first director of the new metabolic bone center at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center] says.

"Although she is still analyzing the data, her initial findings show that diets based on meat and other animal and dairy-based proteins cause more calcium loss because they increase the amount of acid in the body. On the other hand, low-acid vegetable and soy-based diets reduce the excretion of calcium."