Yet another reason to eat your veggies! This research revealed a reduced incidence of hip fracture in men who included more carotenoids in their diets. While this didn’t seem to improve risk of hip fracture in women, we ALL need to keep eating our vegetables and fruits!!!
AANP – Carotenoids Reduce Hip Fracture Risk In Lean Older Men – (Monday, December 17, 2012) –Researchers have concluded that carotenoids decrease the risk of hip fracture risk in elderly, lean men. (The elderly who are lean, meaning a body-mass index or BMI below 20, are at higher risk of hip fracture compared to those with higher BMI. Carotenoids are found in many fruits and vegetables, especially yellow and orange vegetables.) In the Singapore study, the researchers examined the association between dietary antioxidant carotenoids and hip fracture risk across a range of BMI in 63,257 Chinese men and women aged 45 years. The study found that low BMI is a stronger risk factor for hip fracture risk among elderly men compared to women. Also, in men, hip fracture risk decreased with increasing intakes of total vegetables and total carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene. The protective effect was higher in lean men than in men with higher BMI. In contrast, the intake of vegetables or carotenoids had no association with hip fracture risk in women, regardless of levels of BMI. This study was delivered to the IOF Regionals Asia-Pacific Osteoporosis Meeting in Kuala Lumpur December 16, 2012. It will be published in a future issue of Osteoporosis International.