Obesity Causes Poor Bone Health

Researchers have found yet another problem that is attributed to obesity. In a recent press release, they detailed their findings that link obesity with problems with the health of ones bones. Obesity has already been tied to increased risks of diabetes, heart disease, and a myriad of other health problems.

Researchers at the University of Georgia released data from a recent study that links obesity to problems with bone health. They conducted a recent study that measured body fat and bone density.

All of the participants who had high levels of body fat had bones that were significantly weaker than those participants who had normal body fat levels. Because the amount of muscle mass that surrounds the bone is different for every person, researchers took this into consideration and made adjustments for it.

Even so, they said that with these corrections, people who were obese did not make as much bone as they needed when compared to the amount of muscle that they had. This had not been noticed in prior research studies because this was one of the first studies to use scans and make allowances for the muscle tissue.

"Obesity is an epidemic in this country, and I think this study is critical because it highlights another potential negative health effect that people haven't considered," said Richard D. Lewis, a professor of foods and nutrition at the UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

While the researchers are not sure why fat causes problems that limit bone strength, they have conducted studies on obese rats in the past. These studies have indicated that the bone marrows of the fat rats make more fat cells than bone cells.

The bone marrow is responsible for making both fat cells and bone cells. The study on rats seems to indicate that the bone marrow produces more fat cells in obese rats, and potentially, people.

Researchers caution that younger people are developing bones that will be with them for their lifetime. They can change the shape and density of their bones, but this does not exist when someone is older. Therefore, obesity in childhood could have long lasting, and significant negative impacts on people.

About the study
There were 115 women who participated in this study. They were between 18 and 19 years old. Some of the participants had normal body fat, while others had a high level of body fat. Researchers did adjust the body fat measurements to account for the muscles that surrounded their bones since this varied for each participant.

For this study, normal body fat was defined as less than 32 percent body fat, and high body fat was defined as anything above 32 percent body fat.

Their study is being published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Source:
http://www.uga.edu/news/artman/publish/071126_Study.shtml