Eating More Fish and Olives Could Help You Prevent a Broken Hip

By Kayla Kunkel July 12, 2018 at 4:22pm

There is a lot of hype around the Mediterranean diet and its potential health benefits. From heart disease to dementia, there have been reports of the Mediterranean diet making a significant impact on people’s health.

A new scientific study, published on July 11, 2018, continues to point to the groundbreaking benefits of this particular diet.

In a study led by the University of Bologna, researchers concluded that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, olive oil and fish reduces hip bone loss in subjects with osteoporosis.

Over 1,000 people from 65-years-old to 79-years-old participated in the year long study. People from Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland and France all took part.

Participants were divided into two different groups — a group who committed to eat a Mediterranean diet and a control group who did not.

Those who committed to eating the Mediterranean diet not only increased their intake of foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, olives and fish, but also reduced their intake of dairy and meat products.

An article in the Bio Med Central Journal further explains, “In a somewhat reductionist approach, the traditional Mediterranean diet can be considered as a mainly, but not dogmatically, exclusive plant-based dietary pattern. Of note, olive oil is a plant product (in fact a fruit juice) and so is wine.”

Scientists measured the bone density of each individual participant before the study began as well 12 months later, after the study ended.

What they discovered was amazing.

“People in the control group continued to see the usual age-related decrease in bone density, but those following the diet saw an equivalent increase in bone density in one part of the body – the femoral neck. This is the area which connects the shaft of the thigh bone to its rounded head, which fits in the hip joint,” University of East Anglia’s press release read.

The femoral neck is of particular importance because bone loss in this area is often the cause of a broken hip in elderly people with osteoporosis.

Researchers were surprised that they saw such a difference because bone growth is a slow process.

“Bone takes a long time to form, so the 12-month trial, although one of the longest to date, was still a relatively short time frame to show an impact,” Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait, the U.K. study lead, said. “So the fact we were able to see a marked difference between the groups even in just this one area is significant.”

While only 10% of participants in the study had osteoporosis prior to the study, those 10%, who also changed their diet, showed a greater increase in bone growth than those who did not.

UEA’s Dr. Amy Jennings thinks that if the study were longer, they would have also been able to see a larger increase of bone density in those who did not have osteoporosis.

“However, we already found it quite challenging to encourage our volunteers to change their diet for a year, and a longer trial would have made recruitment more difficult and resulted in a higher drop-out.,” she said.

Researchers hope to conduct another study, this time with participants with osteoporosis, in hopes of further studying the impact this simple diet change could make.

If anything, they hope that it can supplement prescribed medicines to combat the disease.

“A Mediterranean diet is already proven to have other health benefits, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and cancer,” Professor Fairweather-Tait said.

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