Evan Watson, NatureCity author & contributor

Post-menopausal women looking to lose weight by following a high-protein meat diet may want to think twice. According to 2 studies published in the July 2010 issue of the Journals of Gerontology, this will result in an increased risk of bone loss.

Researchers from Purdue University conducted both of the studies.

The first of the two studies included 28 overweight women between 43 and 80 years of age. The researchers had all of the women reduce their diets by 750 calories daily to achieve 1.5 pounds of weight loss for 12 weeks.

The women were divided into two groups. The first group was given a meat-free diet with protein coming from vegetarian, dairy and egg sources, which made up 18% of their calorie intake. The second group followed a high protein meat diet composed of 30% of calories from protein. 40% of that came from meat and 60% from vegetarian, dairy and egg sources.

At the end of the study all of the women lost approximately 19 pounds but those in the high protein group also lost bone mineral density by approximately 1.4%.

The second study followed a similar methodology, with women eating diets based on protein coming from different sources; vegetarian vs. meat. The researchers observed the same findings, with all of the women losing the same amount of weight but women with high protein meat diets also losing up to 1.4% bone mineral density.

The researchers also found that calcium supplements appeared to have absolutely no effect on the loss of bone mineral density.

Women are 4 times more likely to develop osteoporosis than men. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 70% of women over the age of 80 have osteoporosis.

Vitamin D and calcium are well known for their bone health benefits and previous studies have also shown that soy may reduce the risk of osteoporosis among post-menopausal women

Scott Greenberg, NatureCity author & contributor

Wrist fractures can seem like a relatively minor injury but a recent study found that they often lead to the development of disability among mature adults. The study was published in the July 2010 issue of BMJ.

For the study, researchers from Northwestern University followed 6,107 healthy women aged 65 and older with no history of wrist or hip fractures.

The women were followed for an average of 7.6 years. During that time the researchers measured their ability to perform daily living activities such as preparing meals, housekeeping, climbing stairs, shopping, and getting out of a car.

ver the course of the study, 268 of the women suffered wrist fractures. The researchers found that those women were 50% more likely to demonstrate functional decline due to their injury.

The study researchers noted that the increased risk of disability due to risk fractures was on par with that experienced as a result of falls, arthritis and diabetes. They believe there needs to be much more education offered about preventative measures.

Preventative measures are especially important for post-menopausal women because they are at a much higher risk of osteoporosis and therefore more likely to incur a wrist fracture.

There are a number of ways to keep your wrist and bones strong in order to lower the risk of fracture including taking a vitamin D and calcium supplement and performing weight bearing exercises.