Digest Number 489

[Guest guest]

A nice counter to the article about children who avoid drinking cow milk

having low dietary calcium intakes and poor bone health.....

 

(http://www.qr77.com/qr77_news_health.html?subject=health & & file=x090904A.xml

full text below)

 

For strong bones eat more vegetables, less candy, researchers say

at 12:08 on September 9, 2002, EST.

 

A recent study suggests that men who eat the most fruits and vegetables -

almost 30 per cent of their calories - have significantly greater bone

density than other men. Strong bones aren't just about getting enough

calcium and vitamin D. Your eating habits overall appear to be related to

the density of your skeleton mass.

 

Researchers at Tufts, Harvard, and Boston Universities made the finding when

they looked at the dietary habits of more than 900 people in their 60s and

older. Those who got the highest proportion of their calories from candy -

20 per cent, on average - had much lower bone density than the others.

 

But the men in the group who ate the most fruits and vegetables - almost 30

per cent of their calories - had significantly greater bone density than

other men.

 

That was true even though they took in less calcium than men whose calories

came largely from meat and dairy items.

 

Their high produce consumption, did, however, give them the greatest intakes

of potassium, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin K - all nutrients associated

with bone density.

 

The bone density advantage for women who took in the greatest proportion of

calories from fruits and vegetables was not statistically significant. But

researchers did note a trend in women linking greater produce consumption to

greater bone density.