Table of Contents
Sticks and stones
Mates, it is my sad duty to inform you that there have been headlines. And not the cool headlines like “James Corden removed from TV forever after fatberg sex probe” or “Class A’s available on NHS in Tier 3 areas”. I was thinking something in a “Vegans 43% more likely to suffer broken bones than meat eaters, Oxford study finds” Daily Mirror, or “Meat-free diets linked with greater risk of breaking bones” New Scientist.[efn_note] Meat-free diets linked with greater risk of breaking bones – New Scientist [/efn_note] It sounds like a wet dream for every cucknivore activist and troll dying to break out their piss weak anti-vegan memes on their dimwit snickering following. You know the drill. Time to put on the helmet, head down the salt mines and discover exactly what Clown College operation came up with the results. Who was funding it – McDonald’s? Who’s the lead researcher – Colonel Sanders? Who’s the publisher – LADbible?
Dear Slim
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Actually, no. If you’re looking to throw shade and the study’s methodology of funding (and, on the real, weren’t we all?) you’ll be disappointed. The prospective cohort study uses the EPIC-Oxford database, the Oxford arm of European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), comprising 65,000 people in the UK, dating all the way back to 1993. It was published in the peer-reviewed BMC Medicine, which has an impact factor of 6.782, placing it in the top 3-4% of journals. The study finds that vegans were at 43% higher risk of fractures than death breath omnis. The finding is still there, diminished but still significant, after controlling for protein and calcium intake. I will not dissemble – these are not the figures we were hoping for at Savage HQ.
A couple of issues are relevant here. The first is the well-established and indisputable fact that vegans crush healthy BMI, along with the lower cholesterol levels and lower risk of heart disease which that implies. That’s a good thing. Vegans have multiple health advantages over slob carnies as a result. The problem is that lower BMI actually increases fracture risk.
“What kind of counterintuitive foolishness is that? For real?”
As real as it gets. The excess fat offers padding and shock absorption when falls happen and the extra weight over time increases bone density. Furthermore, higher BMI is linked to enhanced oestrogen production, important for bone strength in women. What a thing. What a world.
Nineteen-ninety now
Welcome to the glorious complexity of our existence. Worth noting at this stage is that the study’s biggest strength, its duration, makes its findings problematic. Cast your mind back to the 1990s. Tonty Blairs was Prime Minister; Princess Diana was YasQween and Britpop mavens Menswear ruled the charts. The vegan landscape was very different than it is now. Ask for calcium-enriched pea milk back then and it is likely you would be dragged out by the mob and beaten to a bloody pulp. A request for a meat-free sausage roll in Greggs would have landed you in an insane asylum. Cruelty-free swimwear? You may as well have asked for a house made of air. The point is that the supplementation culture among vegans and vegan products we see today did not exist in the same way in the 90s. “In the 1990s, there was less fortification of plant milks,” admits the study’s lead researcher, Tammy Tong.
Getting the D
And while we’re being picky, it has been pointed out (by Michelle Lowe and Hench Herbivore among others) that there was no control in the study for vitamin D. We already know that there is a worldwide shortage of vitamin D with an estimated 1 billion people globally having low levels.[efn_note] Is vitamin D deficiency a major global public health problem? – US National Library of Medicine [/efn_note] With the shortage being particularly pronounced in the sunlight shitpit of the UK where this study took place, it feels something of an oversight. Vitamin D deficiency affects the body’s ability to absorb calcium, an important factor in bone health (more on that in a moment). There is also no control for vitamins K and K2. Given that even in today’s kale smoothie chugging 2020s there is significant vitamin K deficiency, it’s reasonable to assume that in the 1990s it would have been even worse. I can’t stress enough how different a time it was. Put it this way: in the 90s, Jimmy Savile, Fred Talbot and Zoe Ball were national treasures. Now, they are rightly considered pariahs and the mere mention of their names causes people to spit in the street.
In the 90s, Jimmy Savile, Fred Talbot and Zoe Ball were national treasures. Now, the mere mention of their names causes people to spit in the street.
Phosphate crimes
That aside, we should look at the rest of the research in the area. As you’d expect, it’s not the first prospective cohort study of fractures. A 12-year Harvard study found significantly more broken bones in those who consumed more calcium from dairy milk than those who seldom drank it. While stopping short of claiming a causal link, the authors said “These data do not support the hypothesis that higher consumption of milk or other food sources of calcium by adult women protects against hip or forearm fractures.”[efn_note] Milk, dietary calcium, and bone fractures in women: a 12-year prospective study – US National Library of Medicine [/efn_note]
That milk builds strong bones is something many regard as a given but researchers have long pondered what they call the “calcium paradox”[efn_note] Dietary Intake of Vitamin D from Dairy Products Reduces the Risk of Osteoporosis – US National Library of Medicine [/efn_note] where countries in Europe and the United States with a high dairy, high calcium diet have higher occurrence of hip fractures than developing countries with much lower dairy and calcium. It has been speculated that this is down to more sedentary lifestyles and there is some mileage in this one[efn_note] Non-sedentary Lifestyle Can Reduce Hip Fracture Risk among Older Caucasians Adults: The Adventist Health Study-2 – US National Library of Medicine [/efn_note] though phosphate toxicity[efn_note] Osteoporosis in Populations with High Calcium Intake: Does Phosphate Toxicity Explain the Paradox? – Indian Journal of Clinical Biochemistry [/efn_note] is also a potential culprit. Whatever the cause, diving back into dairy to prevent fractures would be a naff idea, swimming against the tide of science.
Breaking with tradition
So what’s the upshot? It bears repeating that we should take the EPIC-Oxford study seriously. A study of the very same database linked a vegetarian diet with roughly a 10% lower risk of cancer after 15 years, along with circa 20% lower rate of heart disease.[efn_note] Vegetarian diet linked with 22 per cent lower risk of heart disease – New Scientist [/efn_note] No one is massaging figures here. That said, we should keep some perspective. There is no nutrient a human needs to live and thrive that you can’t get from plants. This will never not be true.
Will there always be vegans who aren’t quite acing it hitting those essential nutrient targets? Oh, count on it. You all know one – we’ve practically all been one at some point. Take the findings of this study as a reminder to keep on top of your diet – keep it balanced, watch your calcium, vitamin D, vitamin K and K2 and supplement where necessary. It would be a mistake to think that turning yourself into a walking lardbag by following Jordan Peterson’s carnivore diet is the correct path. Be diligent, be righteous. Break a leg.