Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Sep;94(9):3387-93.
doi: 10.1210/jc.2008-2422. Epub 2009 Jun 16.

Reciprocal relations of subcutaneous and visceral fat to bone structure and strength

Vicente Gilsanz  1 , James Chalfant, Ashley O Mo, David C Lee, Frederick J Dorey, Steven D Mittelman
Affiliations

Reciprocal relations of subcutaneous and visceral fat to bone structure and strength

Vicente Gilsanz et al. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Context: Increased body fat is a risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic disease, yet it is uncertain whether obesity protects against osteoporosis or adiposity is harmful to bone.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess whether the pattern of adipose tissue deposition influences bone structure and strength.

Design: The relations between sc and visceral adiposity and the cross-sectional dimensions and polar and principal moments of the femur in 100 healthy women ages 15 to 25 years were obtained using computed tomography.

Results: Multiple linear regression analyses indicated that, after adjusting for leg length and thigh musculature, both sc and visceral fat had strong and independent associations with femoral cross-sectional area, cortical bone area, principal moment maximum, principal moment minimum, and polar moment (all P values < 0.03). However, whereas sc fat had a positive predictive value with all femoral bone phenotypes, a similar but negative effect was observed between visceral fat and these measures (all P values < 0.01).

Conclusions: We found that visceral and sc fat have opposite effects on the appendicular skeleton; whereas sc fat is beneficial to bone structure and strength, visceral fat serves as an unique pathogenic fat depot.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relations between SAF and VAF and measures of the cross-sectional dimensions (a–d) and strength (e–j) of the femur.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gnudi S, Sitta E, Fiumi N 2007 Relationship between body composition and bone mineral density in women with and without osteoporosis: relative contribution of lean and fat mass. J Bone Miner Metab 25:326–332 - PubMed
    1. Clark EM, Ness AR, Tobias JH 2006 Adipose tissue stimulates bone growth in prepubertal children. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 91:2534–2541 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nguyen ND, Pongchaiyakul C, Center JR, Eisman JA, Nguyen TV 2005 Abdominal fat and hip fracture risk in the elderly: the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 6:11 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Reid IR 2002 Relationships among body mass, its components, and bone. Bone 31:547–555 - PubMed
    1. Garnero P, Sornay-Rendu E, Claustrat B, Delmas PD 2000 Biochemical markers of bone turnover, endogenous hormones and the risk of fractures in postmenopausal women: the OFELY study. J Bone Miner Res 15:1526–1536 - PubMed

Publication types