Vegans are not at higher risk for bone problems, study says

April 20, 12:59 PMVegan ExaminerAdam Kochanowicz

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I've typically been covering the overblown stories of vegan children getting sick when "vegan" and "health" is in the mainstream news.  The format is always the same:  If a child gets sick, even extremely sick, it's not news.  But if that child or his/her parents just happen to be vegan, all the journalist needs is a statement about the lack of one ingredient in a vegan diet, and  you've got yet another stereotype reinforcement.

I'm still waiting to hear more news about the eradication of diseases, better emotional and physical health for vegans but I was happy to see this article appearing at UPI.com entitled, "Vegan, non-vegetarian bone density same."  The study compared "the bone health of 105 post-menopausal vegan nuns and 105 non-vegetarian women" and found (gasp) there was no difference whatsoever.

You can expect to see more controversial articles to follow and they usually follow the same routine.  Get ready, when the next one comes out, you can say "Adam called it!"

First, a vegan will get sick.  This is especially media-worthy if the individual is a vegan child of vegan parents.  No matter what the cause of the illness, the writer will couple the statement "a vegan diet tends to be lower in [x]" with "a deficiency in [x] leads to scary symptoms [a, b, c]"

This will be followed with a bland statement from a resource group for vegan diets explaining vegans should be careful and perhaps a "recovered vegan" who has started taking supplements of [x]. 

The truth is, anyone should be careful on any diet and vegans do not have a higher risk for health problems.  If anything, it's the other way around.  Whether an individual is vegan or a full-blown carnivore, there are nutrients we need for a healthy body and all of these nutrients can be found in a vegan diet.  That individuals who still think vegans don't get their protein are running these kinds of stories through the media is frightening to me.