Vegetarian women have a third higher risk of hip fractures compared with regular meat eaters, according to a new study.
Hip fractures are more common in elderly women compared with other groups and are becoming increasingly prevalent in the UK as the population ages, bringing with it additional costs to the NHS. To discover more, researchers from the University of Leeds looked at data involving 26,318 women aged 35 to 69 who were either regular meat eaters, occasional meat eaters, pescatarian, or vegetarian when they completed a food frequency questionnaire in the late 1990s.After adjusting for confounding factors, including smoking and age, vegetarians were found to be the only cohort with an elevated risk of hip fracture 1.33, 1.03 to 1.71).
He explained: "Low intake of these nutrients can lead to lower bone mineral density and muscle mass, which can make you more susceptible to hip fracture risk."