New research does not support the general belief that obesity increases bone mass and is therefore good for bone health. A study, in which investigators corrected for the mechanical loading effect of increasing body weight, suggests the opposite.
"Our study found that increasing body fat mass decreases bone mass, for people of similar weight," Dr Hong-Wen Deng from University of Missouri-Kansas City told Reuters Health. "Therefore, increasing obesity (fat mass) is not good for bone health."
The finding is "important," Deng and colleagues say, because it suggests that interventions or treatments aimed at reducing obesity may increase bone mass and thus protect against osteoporosis.
Past studies on the relationship between obesity and osteoporosis did not control for the "mechanical loading effects" of a person's total body weight on bone mass, the investigators note in a report published this month.