These studies support the role that dietary fatty acids and antioxidants play in reducing the severity of diseases involving bone density loss. Vitamin E was reported to increase bone formation rate and to restore collagen synthesis. Omega-6 can be obtained from borage or black currant seed oils. Researchers have been tracking the eating habits and health histories of these women since 1980. One of the things they've looked at is which participants are more likely to break a bone.
Fractures are the classic symptom of osteoporosis.
Since eating animal protein has been linked to osteoporosis, an analysis was undertaken to determine whether meat-eating had an adverse effect on the nurses' bone density. In 1996, researchers reported the results. Nurses who ate 3 ounces of meat or more per day had a significantly increased risk of forearm fracture compared to those who ate less than 2 ounces. Using 10 years' worth of data on 72,000 participants, they came to the conclusion that the nurses who got the most vitamin K were about a third less likely to get a hip fracture. The significance of taking vitamin K was greater than taking synthetic estrogen, which didn't protect the nurses' bone density in this study.