Women On Mediterranean Diet May Lower Bone Fracture Risk

31 Mar 2016 --- The latest research on Mediterranean diets published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that the heart-healthy diet may also lower risk for hip fracture.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, after the age of 35, a person’s bones start to weaken, breaking down more than they build up. At a certain point this loss becomes osteoporosis, and in postmenopausal women, the drop in estrogen is one of the strongest risk factors for this condition.

Prior research suggests some nutrients, like protein, calcium, and unsaturated fat, can prevent osteoporosis-related fractures – but eating more of them is just part of the picture, the researchers wrote. Something like protein can be part of an unhealthy diet, too.

"Our results provide assurance that widely recommended eating patterns do not increase the risk of fractures," says lead study author Dr. Bernhard Haring of the University of Wurzburg in Germany.

The researchers noticed that fracture rates were lower in Mediterranean countries, where people eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and unsaturated fats —  the good kind of fat — compared to those in northern European countries. Therefore, they decided to see just how much this particular diet can affect bone health.

The team analyzed the eating habits of 90,014 generally healthy, postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 living across the United States. They scored participants’ answers in order to see how well they adhered to a Mediterranean diet and whether they avoided foods not commonly consumed on the diet, including red and processed meat and alcohol.

Researchers then looked to see how women’s answers adhered to other popular diets, including the Healthy Eating Index, the Alternate Healthy Eating Index, the DASH diet (developed to lower blood pressure without medication), and the low-fat diet used in the Women’s Health Initiative study.

After 16 years, women who adhered more to the Mediterranean diet had a 0.29 percent lower risk for hip fracture. There was a smaller risk among those who followed the Healthy Eating Index and DASH diets, but the results were not significant, according to the researchers.

The results show that there may be an association between the Mediterranean diet and fewer fractures, but since women on other quality diets show some benefit, it could just be that avoiding a poor-quality diet in general does the trick.

The diets included in the study all emphasize eating more fruits and vegetables, fish, and healthy fats from foods like nuts and olive oil, on top of avoiding red and processed meat and alcohol.

Mediterranean-approved foods also tend to be rich sources of calcium, especially green leafy vegetables, beans, nuts, and sardines. Because milk is also rich in the mineral it’s typically considered the best way to build strong bones- even though it’s not.

It is important to note that the women who adhered most to the Mediterranean diet were more likely to be older and white, physically active, and to have less than one chronic medical condition and a lower body mass index. This suggests a woman’s bones improve from a healthy diet and lifestyle.

In fact, when looking at fracture rates across the globe, the researchers speculate that lifestyle differences, which include what a person eats on a daily basis, factor into these regional and local differences. 

"The average woman should follow a healthy lifestyle which includes adopting a healthy dietary pattern and being physically active," Haring concluded.