Scientific Update
By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, FADA
Dairy Product Intake Does Not Reduce Fracture Risk in Women Near or
Post-Menopause
In the United States, about 25% of women age 65 or
older have osteoporosis of the hips or spine. Osteoporosis is a disease that weakens
bones and makes them more likely to fracture. A recent study examined dairy intake
of almost 2,000 women in the U.S. to see if it affected bone loss over a 10-year
period. The women were between 42 and 53 years at the start of the study. They were
divided into four groups—those who typically had less than half a serving of
dairy products a day, 0.5 to 1.5 servings, 1.5 to 2.5 servings, and more than 2.5
servings per day. The researchers looked at all dairy products together. There was
no significant difference between the four groups in loss of bone density over the
10-year study period. There was also no significant difference in the risk of bone
fracture related to osteoporosis. The results of this study suggest that dairy
intake by middle-aged women does not offer benefits in terms of bone density or risk
of fractures.
Wallace TC, Jun S, Zou P, et al. Dairy intake is not associated with improvements in bone mineral density or risk of fractures across the menopause transition: data from the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation. Menopause. 2020;27(8):879-886.
Plant Protein May Play a Beneficial Role in Longevity
By Kavitha Shankar MS, MBA, VRG Intern
Plant proteins seem to have
certain health and cardio-protective benefits that may increase longevity.
Researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently published the results
of a study that followed approximately 400,000 men and women, 62 years old on
average at the start of the study, over a period of 16 years. At the start of the
study, the subjects’ median protein intake from plants was about 40%. Plant
protein sources included bread, cereal, pasta, nuts, beans, legumes, and other plant
proteins. The remaining protein was from animal sources including meat and dairy.
The researchers compared these plant proteins to animal proteins from red meat,
white meat (defined as poultry and fish), dairy, and eggs. They found that consuming
more plant protein was related to a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases
and of death, in general.
The overall risk reduction in death, regardless of the cause, was independent of smoking status, diabetes, fruit consumption, and supplement use, indicating that switching to plant proteins may reduce risk of death despite certain lifestyle choices. Additionally, the researchers showed that replacing 3% of the calories that came from animal protein overall with plant protein resulted in a 10% reduction in risk of dying for both men and women irrespective of the type of animal protein.
When the researchers examined different sources of animal protein, using the same 3% substitution model, replacing eggs with plant protein was associated with a 24% lower risk of death in men and a 21% lower risk in women; replacing red meat with plant protein also resulted in risk reduction of death in men (13%) and women (15%); and substitution of dairy with plant protein resulted in 8% reduction across both genders. Interestingly, the substitution model for white meat with plant protein did not show significant benefits. In summary, plant proteins may be superior to animal protein for overall longevity and reduction of risk of dying from heart disease. Even small substitutions of certain animal proteins with plant proteins could help increase life span.
Huang J, Liao LM, Weinstein SJ, Sinha R, Graubard BI, Albanes D. Association between plant and animal protein intake and overall and cause-specific mortality. JAMA Intern Med. 2020;e202790.
Are Creatine Supplements Effective?
By Jacqueline Tang,
VRG Intern
Creatine is an amino acid that is naturally produced and stored
in muscles. Creatine helps provide rapid energy to muscles during high-intensity
interval training (HIIT). Although our body naturally makes creatine, humans can
consume additional creatine from supplements, meat, and fish. Vegetarian and vegan
athletes who regularly partake in HIIT or strength training may benefit from taking
a supplement. This can help increase the amount of creatine that is stored in the
muscle and boost exercise performance. Creatine in supplements is usually
synthetically produced; vegan supplements are available in both powder and pill
form. Although the creatine in supplements is generally vegan since it is usually
synthetically produced, other ingredients, such as the capsule used to enclose the
pill, might be made from animal-derived gelatin. To ensure that the supplement is
vegan, verify with the label or website.
A recent systematic review utilized data from nine scientific studies to investigate the effect of creatine supplements on exercise performance in vegetarians and omnivores. The authors of the review concluded, based on one study, that 1 gram of creatine per day is the minimum amount that can help build muscle and aid in anaerobic training, like strenuous weightlifting and high intensity forms of exercise (such as short bursts of jumping exercises or sprints). Experts debate whether creatine supplementation use is more beneficial for vegetarians engaged in high intensity exercise than for omnivores. Some studies have shown that vegetarians may achieve higher stored concentrations of creatine than omnivores after supplement use. Yet this difference may not be important, since exercise performance was roughly equal for both vegetarians and omnivores after using creatine supplements.
From these studies one can conclude that creatine could be a useful supplement for some vegan and vegetarian athletes. Although creatine is generally safe to take at appropriate doses, this review did not find that it was needed to give vegetarians an edge in exercise performance.
Kaviani M, Shaw K, Chilibeck PD. Benefits of creatine supplementation for vegetarians compared to omnivorous athletes: A systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3041.
What Do Vegetarians Eat?
A recent large study from France
looked at 500 self-reported vegetarians and more than 250 self-reported vegans and
compared them to approximately 20,000 nonvegetarians. Food records were used to
verify that vegetarians and vegans were correctly categorized. The researchers were
interested in consumption of what they called ultra-processed foods. These foods
included commercial veggie burgers, plant-based dairy substitutes, mass-produced
packaged breads and buns, packaged snacks, sodas and sweetened beverages,
reconstituted meat products processed with the addition of preservatives (like
chicken nuggets and hot dogs), instant noodles and soups, and frozen entrées.
They asked subjects to record what they ate for three days. They then compared their
intakes of ultra-processed foods.
Vegetarians and vegans got more calories from ultra-processed foods than did meat-eaters mainly because of the higher consumption of plant-based meats and plant-based milk by vegetarians and vegans. It was surprising that meat-eaters didn’t use ultra-processed foods to the same extent. Perhaps in France, “reconstituted meat products” are less popular than they seem to be in the U.S. In this study, meat-eaters ate an average of about 1 ounce per day of processed meat.
Vegetarians, especially vegans, had higher intakes of unprocessed plant foods than did meat-eaters and ate fewer sweets and fatty foods. For example, vegans ate 1.5 times more fruit, 1.75 times more vegetables, 4 times more nuts, and 5.5 times more legumes than did nonvegetarians. Nonvegetarians ate 1.7 times more sweets and fatty foods than did vegans. Those who had been vegetarian for a short time were more likely to use ultra-processed foods than were those who had been vegetarian for a longer time. Being younger when first becoming vegetarian was also associated with a greater likelihood of using ultra-processed food.
It would be interesting to see a similar study done in the U.S.
Gehring J, Touvier M, Baudry J, et al. Consumption of ultra-processed foods by pesco-vegetarians, vegetarians, and vegans: associations with duration and age at diet initiation [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jul 21]. J Nutr. 2020;nxaa196.
