Elderly individuals who indulge in chocolates and jelly beans at the expense of vegetables and fruits may be at risk for thinning bones and fractures.
The findings provide additional information on how people may be able to protect themselves from osteoporosis, the brittle-bone disease that affects many older people. While research has shown that calcium and vitamin D can help preserve bone, less is known about the effects of other nutrients.
Investigators interviewed more than 900 men and women aged 69 to 93 about their diets, and measured their bone mineral density at a number of different skeletal sites.
Diets were categorized into one of six groups according to the foods from which individuals derived the bulk of their calories: meat, dairy, and bread; meat and sweet baked products; sweet baked products; alcohol; candy; and fruit, vegetables, and cereal.
Men who consumed primarily fruit and vegetables had denser bones overall, compared with their peers who ate less healthy diets.
Women in the candy group had the lowest average bone mineral density at the majority of skeletal sites. Bone mineral density in one of the areas measured at the hip, for instance, was nearly 12% lower among women in the candy group than among women in the fruit and vegetables group.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition July 2002;76:245-252
I am at work on a book that will offer you a wealth of information and advice on osteoporosis, but it is important to share one of the book's primary points here: vegetables help to preserve your bones, and may help fight the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis.
As referenced in my book, a university study showed that herbs and vegetables can improve your bone metabolism. Researchers found that rats that ate common herbs and vegetables, such as onion, parsley and salad greens, had significantly less bone loss than rats not on the special diet.
A number of vegetables and vegetable mixtures produced significant effects on the rate of bone loss, such as 500 mg daily each of onion and Italian parsley, and 100 mg each of a mixture of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, arrugula, onion, garlic, wild garlic, common parsley, Italian parsley, and dill.
Interestingly, soybeans and milk powder -- foods thought to help slow the process of osteoporosis -- had no effect on the rats' rate of bone resorption. Another recent study also showed a major link between vegetable and fruit intake for increased bone density, but no such effect for dairy products.
As researchers suggested as far back as 1968, the minerals in your bone serve as a buffer against all the acid foods you eat. After a lifetime of buffering the acid load from eating diets that are full of grains, this leads to gradual loss of minerals in the bones and secondary bone loss. It was suggested that:
"The therapy of osteoporosis may lie in its prevention...it might be worthwhile to consider decreasing the rate of bone attrition by the use of a diet favoring 'alkaline ash.' This type of diet would emphasize the ingestion of vegetables, fruits, vegetable and protein."
Two nutrients that may have the necessary buffering effects are potassium and magnesium. They are found in a variety of whole, unrefined foods, including vegetables and fruits. Diets high in vegetables and fruits produce a more alkaline urine by contributing a variety of compounds that accept hydrogen ions during their metabolism.
These researchers showed almost 40 years ago that there is a significant and important link between bone density and consumption of potassium and magnesium in the form of vegetables and fruits.
There are theoretical reasons to expect a link between bone and potassium and magnesium. For instance, metabolic balance studies have shown that potassium helps your kidney retain calcium, whereas low potassium intake leads to increasing losses of calcium in your urine.
But the bottom line is, it is important to increase your consumption of vegetables if you have low bone density. One of the best ways to do that and normalize high body acid levels would be with vegetable juice. Vegetable juice is also high in vitamin K (phylloquinone) that will actually cement the calcium into your bone matrix.