A new study, has looked at several types of diet, including the Mediterranean diet , for its bone-protective benefits, including reduction of osteoporosis risk. Since millions of people take supplements to help prevent bone loss, the study wants to know whether eating a healthy diet could offer the best protection. Now scientists have discovered that eating food rich in anti-inflammatory quality could help ward off osteoporosis.

Published online by JAMA Internal Medicine, the study examined the bone density and fracture risk, and diet of 90,014 postmenopausal women between the ages of 50 and 79. The women’s data was analyzed and scored on four diet indexes.The researchers found that women adhering to a Mediterranean diet had a 20 percent lower risk for hip fractures.

According to the Endocrine Web, it was the lowest percentage of risk compared to the other three diet types, though the results were not considered statistically significant. “The results were surprising in so far as we did not see large associations between a healthy dietary pattern and fracture risk,” says Dr. Bernhard Haring, the study’s lead author in Germany. The study suggests that a high quality diet of any type may reduce fracture and osteoporosis risk, he continues.

Examples of common food of the high quality diet types are fish, vegetables, whole grains and fruits. These are rich in anti-inflammatory chemicals which ward off the onset of the disease. The bone-weakening condition affects about seven in ten, or more than three million Britons, the Daily Express says.

There are plenty of other reasons why the plant-based diet is worth following. It has been associated with an effective reduction in heart disease and diabetes. Same with obesity, colorectal cancer, and dementia. Even the US Dietary Guidelines Committee recommended Americans to follow the Mediterranean diet and similar dietary patterns