Action for Animals Austin

Despite recent headlines to the contrary, a recent study confirms that a vegan diet does not have an adverse effect on bone density.

We have been following this news story since it started making the rounds last week.  It virtually exploded over the course of just a few days -- it was a Yahoo! News top story.  With headlines like "Bad News for Vegetarians," and "Vegetarian diet 'weakens bones,'" it certainly got our attention.  However, after a quick read-through of the article, we were left with many nagging questions which lead us to start digging for answers about the actual conclusions of the study, its methodology, its credibility in the face of other evidence, who was actually paying for it, and (most importantly) why this particular study shot to the top so quickly.

It turns out we were not the only ones digging.  Dr. McDougall was one step ahead of us with the facts and now we can share them with you.

See this article for a more complete explanation, but here are the main points:

Q: Does the headline match the content of the article (and the conclusion of the researchers)?
A: No. The researcher actually says in the article, "...the magnitude of the association is clinically insignificant."  This means that even based on this study (which we shall soon see is biased and flawed) the headlines could have just as easily read, "Good news for vegetarians: difference in bone density between omnivores and vegans insignificant."

Q: Is the methodology employed by the researchers sound?
A: No. This was not really a study, but rather a meta-analysis.  This means that they looked for studies that had already been done and compiled an analysis based on the results of all the studies.  It sounds rigorous, until you learn that they initially found 922 studies and then whittled the list down to only 9 studies to include.  This is apparently common and leads to all sorts of bias -- it's awfully easy to cherry-pick only the studies that bolster your theory.  This is why meta-analyses are highly suspect by those in the scientific community.

Q: Who are the researchers?
A: Here is where things start to get really interesting.  These are the same researchers who conducted an actual study (not a meta-analysis of previous studies) on veganism and osteoporosis (published in the April 2009 issue of Osteoporosis International and reported by Dr. McDougall in June here).  This study concluded, '...veganism does not have (an) adverse effect on bone mineral density and does not alter body composition."

Q: Who paid for the study that is making headlines like "Bad News for Vegetarians?"
A: Dr. McDougall reports: "This flawed research telling people worldwide that vegan diets are bad for the bones was funded by the AMBeR alliance incorporated in Malaysia, which owns Amber F&B Nutrition Sdn Bhd, a dairy products producer and wholesaler."  Surprised?  Me neither.

Q: Why did this horribly flawed study shoot to the top of the headlines while the other study by the same researchers barely registered?
A: The PR departments of the dairy industry shift into high gear whenever they manage to get some self-serving junk-science study published and send press releases far and wide.  They are good at getting media outlets to publish their stories, in most cases with little or no critical review.

Take Action

Don't let the dairy industry profit from this deception!

• Talk - Ask everybody you know if they saw or heard about this news story.  Use this to start conversations and share correct information. 
• Comment - Find the web sites of media outlets that carried this story and post your own comments about how you feel.  The TV/radio stations/newspapers read these comments -- they need to know their viewers/readers/listeners expect a higher standard of journalism.
• Write - Write letters to the editor of your local paper telling them how you feel about this type of biased reporting.
• Share - Use the ShareThis and E-mail to friends links to the left to send this information to MySpace, Facebook, etc.

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