New Rutgers Study Shows High Protein Diet Helps Limit Bone Loss

I know it seems like every week there is a new study that tells you what you thought was good for you to eat was actually bad for you and vice versa.  A new study offered at the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research indicates that a higher protein diet for women, when calcium and and vitamin D were held constant, resulted in less bone density decline.

What I liked about this study was its size and length.  Forty-seven women participated for a year.  The size is statistically significant and the duration was long enough to measure real effects.  Many studies that get into the news have fewer than 25 subjects and last as little as 12 weeks.  I think this offers credible evidence that particularly as women approach menopause and begin to experience hormonal changes that can affect nutrient absorption and bone density, increasing the level of protein as a percentage of total calories is important.

This isn't a permission slip to eat at Texas Roadhouse three times a week, but yet another observation, that the typical American diet, which is laden with more carbohydrates and fat than protein, needs to be tweaked to include more protein in the mix to stay healthy.