The Study
Differences in Bone Mineral Density between Adult Vegetarians and Nonvegetarians Become Marginal when Accounting for Differences in Anthropometric Factors.
This study looked at people who eat plants vs. people who eat meat and saw that plant-eaters sometimes had weaker bones—but it turned out that was mostly because they were thinner. It didn't prove eating plants makes bones weak; it just showed a link that went away when you considered body size.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
People who don't eat meat sometimes have slightly lower bone density, but this might be because they tend to be thinner, not because their diet is missing bone-building nutrients.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 540 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The bone density differences are small and mostly explained by being thinner — not enough to suggest vegetarians are at high risk for fractures just from diet.
- 2Vegetarians had bone density of 0.77 g/cm² (hip) vs.
- 30.79 in meat-eaters — not a big difference after accounting for body size.
- 4Lower spine was 1.01 vs.
- 51.04 — a tiny but real difference.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The Journal of nutrition
Year
2020
Authors
Nena Karavasiloglou, Eliška Selinger, J. Gojda, S. Rohrmann, T. Kühn
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who eat plant-based diets experience more bone fractures and higher rates of osteoporosis than people who consume animal protein.
Adults who follow a vegetarian diet have slightly lower bone mineral density in the hip and spine than nonvegetarians, but this difference disappears when accounting for body weight and waist size, meaning body measurements explain the variation more than diet type.
Adults who follow a vegetarian diet have slightly different bone mineral density in the lower spine compared to nonvegetarians, even when accounting for differences in body size.
People who follow a vegetarian diet have similar hip bone mineral density as nonvegetarians when their body mass index and waist circumference are taken into account.
People who follow a vegetarian diet have different bone mineral density levels at the hip and lower spine compared to non-vegetarians. At the hip, these differences are mostly due to differences in body size. At the lower spine, a small difference remains even after accounting for body size.
Vegetarians with lower body weight and smaller waist size have lower bone mineral density, which is explained by reduced mechanical stress on bones from lower body weight, not by nutrient deficiencies.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.