Reason #40 …

Though osteoporosis is a disease of calcium deficiency, it is not one of low calcium intake. One cause of the bone disorder is too much protein in the diet. Excess protein can leach calcium from the bones. Famed diet innovator Nathan Pritikin has noted that African Bantu women on low-protein diets take in a third of U.S.-recommended daily allowances of calcium. “They bear nine children during their lifetime and breast-feed them for two years. They never have calcium deficiency [and] never break a bone.”

The typical meat-eating American is eating about five times as much protein as needed.
           – Pamela Rice, 101 Reasons Why I’m a Vegetarian