1.

In one paragraph of 5-7 sentences please provide a summary of the media

report, including the food item, who the authors of the original research
article are (you can refer to them by the first author’s surname; for example,
PT Johnson et al., or PT Johnson’s group, etc.) , what the main findings of the
study were, and a description of the subjects used (for example, animal or
human; male or female; children, adults, or elderly; healthy, overweight, or
diabetic).
2. How can you verify the accuracy and credibility of this media report?
(comment on the reputation of the website and its authors; do the links
provided actually lead you to the proper information;  what are the credentials
of the authors; do the references lead to other reliable websites or original
research articles?)

Compared to the original research article, and based on the Discussion and/or
Abstract, did the media report omit any information from their report in order to
“sensationalize” or “exaggerate” the findings? Make sure you provide specific
examples from your sources.

Hip fractures take place when the femur bone found in the thighs breaks from the
upper part of the bone thighbone. This injury usually takes place during a fall or an
accident. Hip fractures are more commonly seen in individuals in their later stages of
life this is because their bones become weak and brittle as they age. Over 300,000
people fracture their hip every year in the US alone. There are many factors that can
lead to hip fracture other than an accident, this includes aging, osteoporosis,
lifestyle, diet, medication and interestingly gender as well (Hip Fracture, n.d.).

Females are apparently more likely to suffer from hip fractures compared to males.
This is because, after menopause, women tend to lose bone mass which leads to
weaker bones and makes bones more likely to break (Hip fracture, n.d.). I came
across a news report today suggesting that vegetarian women are more likely to
fracture their hips in old age (Sample, 2022). This study has been led by James
Webster’s group at the University of Leeds, which analysed cases related to hip
fractures for the past 20 years or so, carried out on people that followed a vegetarian
diet, pescatarian diet, occasional meat eaters and regular meat eater (Webster et al.,
2022). The study went through records of over 26,000 women between the age of 35
and 69, out of that, roughly 3% had hip fractures and out of the 3%, 28% of those
women were vegetarians. The article states that the women that were on a
vegetarian diet had lower body mass index (BMI) along with lower vitamin D and
protein intake compared to women that consumed meat on regular basis.

The article does not have a direct link available to check if the information provided is
correct but searching on google, it was easy to find the original study that the article
of this news refers to. The credibility and accuracy of the article can be vouched for
because the information provided in the article is what the original study has, along
with this, the author or the article also linked other studies to support the claim of
vegetarians have a higher risk of hip fractures, this study was published in 2020,
which suggests that vegetarians have 25% higher risk of getting hip fracture and
vegans being 31% higher at getting hip fracture (Tong, et al, 2020). The Guardian
newspaper is regarded as one of the good sources of information by people in the
UK compared to many other newspapers in the country because of many articles it
publishes with links to original studies. I believe that the news article did not
exaggerate the findings of the original study but instead wrote the article as similar to
the original study itself. For example, the original study states the number of women
that were part of the experiment as 26,318 and the news article states that more
than 26,000 women were part of it, although the news article did not mention the
exact number, it does no exaggerate the statistics, that’s just one of many examples
(Sample, 2022; Webster, 2022).

References:

Hip Fracture. (n.d.). Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved from:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17101-hip-fracture

Sample. (2022). Vegetarian women more likely to fracture hips in later life, study
shows. The Guardian. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/11/vegetarian-women-fracture-hips-
study-bone-health

Webster, J et al. (2022). Risk of hip fracture in meat-eaters, pescatarians, and

vegetarians: results from the UK Women’s Cohort Study. BMC Medicine,

20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-022-02468-0