We talk about a lot about health and how to stay healthy here. Weight loss is usually a good thing and a way to stay healthy. But, now researchers claim that it could reduce bone density, bone architecture, and elderly bone strength.
The Study About Elderly Bone Strength
The study was published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. It included 769 women and 595 men with an average age of 70.
The study says that the huge changes to the skeleton in bodies that lost a lot of weight were clinically significant. This translated into an almost 3 times higher risk of fracture for those who lost 5% or more weight over 40 years.
Long term and recent weight loss were found to be connected with lower cortical density and thickness. There was also higher cortical porosity and lower trabecular density.
“We showed that men and women with both shorter term weight loss over 4-6 years and longer term weight loss over 40 years had more micro-architectural deterioration of their bones than persons who did not lose weight,” says principal investigator Douglas P. Kiel from the Hebrew Seniorlife Institute for Aging Research, US.
Further work needs to be done to see if these bone deficits can be prevented through interventions or therapy.
Read more here.