Vegan Diet and Bone Health—Results from the Cross-Sectional RBVD Study
1
Department of Food Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, 10589 Berlin, Germany
2
Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Economics, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany
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Institute for Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
4
Section for Pharmacology, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, 5021 Bergen, Norway
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Department of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Saarland University Hospital, 66421 Homburg, Germany
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Department of Molecular Epidemiology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam–Rehbruecke, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany
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Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany
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Laboratory of Human Nutrition, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
9
German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, 10589 Berlin, Germany
10
Department of Food Chemistry, Institute of Nutritional Science, University of Potsdam, 14558 Nuthetal, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Winston Craig
Nutrients 2021, 13(2), 685; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020685
Received: 12 January 2021
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Revised: 9 February 2021
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Accepted: 15 February 2021
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Published: 21 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Nutrition and Metabolism)
Scientific evidence suggests that a vegan diet might be associated with impaired bone health. Therefore, a cross-sectional study (n = 36 vegans, n = 36 omnivores) was used to investigate the associations of veganism with calcaneal quantitative ultrasound (QUS) measurements, along with the investigation of differences in the concentrations of nutrition- and bone-related biomarkers between vegans and omnivores. This study revealed lower levels in the QUS parameters in vegans compared to omnivores, e.g., broadband ultrasound attenuation (vegans: 111.8 ± 10.7 dB/MHz, omnivores: 118.0 ± 10.8 dB/MHz, p = 0.02). Vegans had lower levels of vitamin A, B2, lysine, zinc, selenoprotein P, n-3 fatty acids, urinary iodine, and calcium levels, while the concentrations of vitamin K1, folate, and glutamine were higher in vegans compared to omnivores. Applying a reduced rank regression, 12 out of the 28 biomarkers were identified to contribute most to bone health, i.e., lysine, urinary iodine, thyroid-stimulating hormone, selenoprotein P, vitamin A, leucine, α-klotho, n-3 fatty acids, urinary calcium/magnesium, vitamin B6, and FGF23. All QUS parameters increased across the tertiles of the pattern score. The study provides evidence of lower bone health in vegans compared to omnivores, additionally revealing a combination of nutrition-related biomarkers, which may contribute to bone health. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings.
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Keywords:
bone health; BUA; SOS; QUS; vegan; diet; biomarker; reduced rank regression; RRR
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MDPI and ACS Style
Menzel, J.; Abraham, K.; Stangl, G.I.; Ueland, P.M.; Obeid, R.; Schulze, M.B.; Herter-Aeberli, I.; Schwerdtle, T.; Weikert, C. Vegan Diet and Bone Health—Results from the Cross-Sectional RBVD Study. Nutrients 2021, 13, 685. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020685
AMA Style
Menzel J, Abraham K, Stangl GI, Ueland PM, Obeid R, Schulze MB, Herter-Aeberli I, Schwerdtle T, Weikert C. Vegan Diet and Bone Health—Results from the Cross-Sectional RBVD Study. Nutrients. 2021; 13(2):685. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020685
Chicago/Turabian StyleMenzel, Juliane, Klaus Abraham, Gabriele I. Stangl, Per M. Ueland, Rima Obeid, Matthias B. Schulze, Isabelle Herter-Aeberli, Tanja Schwerdtle, and Cornelia Weikert. 2021. "Vegan Diet and Bone Health—Results from the Cross-Sectional RBVD Study" Nutrients 13, no. 2: 685. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13020685
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