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Question answered:12/07/06 Warning! this question is over two years old.
We found relatively little on this subject. A review carried out by the UK’s Centre for Nutrition and Food Safety was published in 2004 [1]. The authors stated:
“The aim of this review was to assess the impact of a vegetarian diet on indices of skeletal integrity to address specifically whether vegetarians have a normal bone mass. Analysis of existing literature, through a combination of observational, clinical and intervention studies were assessed in relation to bone health for the following: lacto-ovo-vegetarian and vegan diets versus omnivorous, predominantly meat diets, consumption of animal versus vegetable protein, and fruit and vegetable consumption.”
Within the abstract they discuss a number of issues, concluding:
“However, from data available and given the limitations stipulated above, "vegetarians" do certainly appear to have "normal" bone mass. What remains our challenge is to determine what components of a vegetarian diet are of particular benefit to bone, at what levels and under which mechanisms.”
It is not clear how systematic the search was in researching this review. However, medline has relatively few articles on the topic and therefore we are unlikely to find any more robust material using this source.
Reference
1) New SA. Do vegetarians have a normal bone mass? Osteoporos Int. 2004 Sep;15(9):679-88. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15258721)
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