Warning for vegans

[Cron]

I recently heard about this important article about vegans and calcium from Jack Norris R.D.( registered dietician ) from Vegan Outreach.

In a nutshell, there have been various beliefs in vegan circles over the years that vegans do not need as much calcium as omnivores. A very good study was recently published to the contrary, finding that vegans had worse bone fracture rates than omnivores or vegetarians.

The USRDA for calcium for most adults is 1,000 mg. The UK RDA is 700 mg. Vegans who got 525 mg of calcium had the same bone fracture rate (still sucky ) as omnivores.

1 cup of cooked, chopped collard greens gives 266 mg of calcium.

1 cup of cooked, chopped, broccoli has 62 mg of calcium.

1 cup of raw, chopped watercress, which is as palatable as lettuce and half the calories, has 40 mg of calcium.

A similar serving of lettuce has only 13mg of calcium.

The Vegan Outreach article by Jack Norris R.D.
Articles : Bones: Vitamin D, Calcium, etc.

[jbischke]

Interesting...I've read a number of places that intake of animal products actually leeches the body of calcium (see Slate article below). I remember reading in one of John Robbins' books that the five countries that had the highest incidence of dairy consumption also had the highest incidence of osteoporosis. I'm not saying you're wrong here, just that there's probably more than meets the eye when it comes to this issue. I think the biggest thing here is to see where the studies are coming from. The dairy industry has been notorious over the years for funding studies that promote the health "benefits" of drinking lots of milk.

Got Osteoporosis? - By Emily Yoffe - Slate Magazine

[escapee]

Please bare in mind that refined sugar and alcohol are known to increase the risk of Osteoperosis .

SUGAR SHOCK! Blog: Soda Raises Osteoporosis Risk, Study Finds

I'm not saying that pasteurized milk/commercial dairy product is a health food , but i feel the author is alittle hasty in concluding that diary product is the main cause of the problem when there are other more critical factors to consider (Eg: human refined/made food )

Myths and Truths About Osteoporosis (Do high protein diets cause bone loss?)

[escapee]

Make sure the brocolli is cooked or steamed to deactivate goitrogen.

Is Broccoli Bad for the Thyroid?

[TheColonel]

Thanks for the link, I'll pass this on to my brother who's a vegan & suffering health issues.

On a side note, Jack Norris and I have known each other for close to 40 years, and I lost touch with him about 10 years ago. I'll have to look him up!

[Cron]

jbischke, John Robbin's book is OLD, this study is new. Even when DFNA was published in the 90s there were critics of the quality of research.

The dairy industry is why the USRDA says we need 1 gram of calcium per day, whilte the UK rda says only 700 mg.....and that probably has a margin of safety in it as well.

[escapee]

I stumbled upon Migthy O organic vegan doughnut a while ago and just thought i would share it here.

natural vegan ingredients: Organic wheat flour, Organic turbinado sugar, Organic palm fruit oil, filtered water, Organic soy flour, fructose, canola oil (non-GMO), baking powder (non-aluminum), baking soda, dextrose and salt.

Fructose danger - Yahoo! Search Results

Canola Oil - How Toxic Is It?

Sigh .......