AUGUSTA, Ga.—Bad news for overweight children: not only do they face increased risk of developing diabetes, but they also face increased risk of weak bones, according to a new study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. The Medical College of Georgia researchers suggested these findings are the first to show a link between childhood obesity and poor future skeletal health, not to mention risk of type 2 diabetes.
The bone scientists studied 140 overweight children aged 7 to 11 years, first using an oral glucose tolerance test to determine 41 of the children had pre-diabetes, while 99 children did not; they also determined various glucose and insulin levels in the children. Then they measured total and central adiposity, glucose intolerance, insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, systemic inflammation and osteocalcin relative to bone mass. Further, total body bone mineral content (BMC), fat-free soft tissue mass (FFST) and fat mass (FM) were assessed and blood was analyzed for lipids, C-reactive protein (CRP) and osteocalcin.
In overweight children with pre-diabetes, total body BMC was 4-percent lower than in those who did not have pre-diabetes. FM was positively correlated to BMC. However, relative to all 140 children, visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAAT) were inversely related to BMC; no significant associations were found between BMC and the biochemical measurements.
According to lead researcher Norman Pollock, PhD., while overweight kids might have more bone mass than normal weight kids, the additional bone might not be sufficient enough to handle their larger body weight. On the other hand, being fat doesn’t necessarily mean weaker bones ahead, as the results indicated where and how that adiposity is distributed and stored may be a determining factor in bone development.