Itappears that older men who eat fruits and vegetables can delay the onset ofbrittle bone disease known as osteoporosis.
Foryears, doctors focused on studying osteoporosis in women only. But men areliving longer than in the past, and as they age, their bones also can getbrittle and break easily. Tufts University researcher Katherine Tucker explainsthere are parts of the body where bone loss is a particular problem.
"Wewant to prevent hip fractures," she says. "And the spine is anotherarea that is really at risk of spinal compression and loss ... that reducesheight over time."
Manydoctors recommend people eat foods that include calcium to keep their bonesstrong. But in an earlier study, Tucker found that people who ate lots offruits and vegetables had stronger bones over time than people who didn't eatfruits and vegetables regularly.
"Thefruits and vegetables provide molecules which help reduce acidity in the blood,which helps reduce bone resorption," Tucker says. Resorption means thebreaking down of bone cells to release calcium into the blood.
Inthis follow-up study, Tucker and her colleagues recruited men whose average agewas about 75 years old. Over a period of four years, the researchers used abone scanner to make regular measurements of the men's hips, spines andforearms. Tucker also had the men keep detailed information about what theyate. In particular, she asked about vitamin C, because vitamin C seems to slowdown bone resorption.
"Wewere able to see that vitamin C was quite protective against bone loss overfour years," Tucker says. "It was most significant in men who alsohad either low calcium or low vitamin E intake."
Tuckersays low amounts of calcium in the blood is an obvious risk factor forosteoporosis. But she says it also seems vitamin C is protective for people atrisk.Tucker says when people have lowlevels of vitamin E in their bodies, it seems like higher levels of vitamin Calso make up that lack.
VitaminC is found commonly in many fruits and vegetables. But Tucker says the men withthe strongest bones also had taken vitamin C supplements.
"Wefound that the total vitamin C was what really mattered," she says."But in this case, in order to see the protection from vitamin C, it wasat a level that was mainly achieved from supplements."
Tuckeris continuing research on which nutrients can keep bones strong, long aftermother has stopped telling you to eat your vegetables.
Herstudy is published in the .