Low-carb diets do not lead to bone loss, according to a new study from the University of Illinois. In fact, people on diets that emphasized meats and dairy products lost less bone mass than those on a diet based on the government's food pyramid, which emphasizes grains.
A research team from the University of Illinois and Penn State University randomly assigned 130 people to either a high- or low-carb diet, and then measured their bone density every four months for a year. The scientists believed the low-carb diet would cause loss of calcium through urination, but instead the high-carb group showed a decline in bone loss and the low-carb group remained stable.
This study appears in the
Journal of Nutrition.
Labels: bone_density, carbs