Girls, Fruits & Veggies and Skeletal Development

by Michael Greger, M.D.

We've known that adults can protect their bones eating fruits and vegetables, but it's never been studied in children... until now. University of Tennessee researchers just published a study which found that girls (aged 8-13) who ate more fruits and veggies seemed to have significantly increased bone mass compared to girls who ate less even after controlling for many other factors. The size of their skeletons was significantly increased.

Although this study was relatively small (limited to 56 subjects) and only looked at affluent white girls, hopefully this will be the first of many studies on maximizing peak bone mass in adolescent women. The researchers suspect that the reason fruits and vegetables were so protective is because most plant foods tend to decrease the calcium loss in the urine that is triggered in part by the consumption of meat.[6]

REFERENCES

6 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 79(2004):311.