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Relationship between physical activity, lean body mass, and bone mass in the Mexican adult population

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Abstract

Summary

We evaluated the association between leisure-time physical activity (LTPA), bone mineral content (BMC), and lean mass (LM) in whole body (wb) and limbs of the Mexican adult population. Our results demonstrate that some types of LTPA with relatively high/medium impact on bones such as football, basketball, tennis, and weightlifting improve BMC and LM.

Purpose

To evaluate the effect of different kinds of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) on bone mass values and its association with lean mass (LM) in the whole body (wb) and limbs of a large sample of Mexican men and premenopausal (pre-MP) women.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Health Workers Cohort Study. Bone mineral content (BMC, kg), bone area (cm2), and LM (kg) were measured with DXA. The LTPA level and the “sedentary” condition were determined using a validated questionnaire adapted for the Mexican population. One-way ANOVA tests evaluated the differences in weight, height, body mass index, and wb, lower limb (ll) and upper limb (ul) BMC and LM between the active (those who engaged in LTPA) and sedentary group. Relationships between BMC and LM values were analyzed. Slopes of the curves and Z scores of LTPA groups with respect to the sedentary group were compared.

Results

In men, both wb-BMC and ll-BMC were significantly higher in the groups performing basketball, football, tennis, weightlifting, and running, and all wb-LM, ll-LM, and ul-LM were higher in running, weightlifting, football, and basketball groups with respect to the sedentary group. Both the Z scores and the slopes of BMC-vs-LM relationships were higher than the controls, but only in the ll of male basketball and football players.

Conclusion

Our findings demonstrate that some types of LTPA with relatively high/medium impact on bones, such as football, basketball, tennis, and weightlifting, improve both BMC and LM compared to sedentary individuals. Finally, this relationship is stronger for the bones found in the legs and it seems that women are less sensitive to this effect, possibly due to hormonal, dietary, and pharmacological reasons.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the authors upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The original study was supported by the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Grant: 87783, and Grant: 7876) Mexico City.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación en Nutrición y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, México

    Edgar Denova-Gutiérrez

  2. Unidad Académica de Investigación Epidemiológica, Centro de Investigación en Políticas, Población y Salud, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico

    Berenice Rivera-Paredez & Jorge Salmerón

  3. Laboratorio de Genómica del Metabolismo Óseo, Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, Ciudad de México, México

    Rafael Velázquez-Cruz

  4. CONACYT - Centro de Investigación en Salud Poblacional, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, México

    Paloma Muñoz-Aguirre

  5. Unidad de Investigación Epidemiológica y en Servicios de Salud, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Cuernavaca, México

    Paula Ramírez-Palacios

  6. Unidad de Investigación en Epidemiología Clínica, Hospital Infantil de México “Federico Gómez”, Ciudad de México, México

    Patricia Clark

  7. Centro de Estudios de Metabolismo Fosfocálcico, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Rosario, Argentina

    Jose Luis Ferretti & Gustavo Roberto Cointry

Authors
  1. Edgar Denova-Gutiérrez
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  2. Berenice Rivera-Paredez
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  3. Rafael Velázquez-Cruz
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  4. Paloma Muñoz-Aguirre
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  5. Paula Ramírez-Palacios
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  6. Patricia Clark
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  7. Jose Luis Ferretti
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  8. Jorge Salmerón
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  9. Gustavo Roberto Cointry
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Contributions

The authors’ responsibilities were as follows: ED-G and JS designed the study and secured funding; ED-G, RV-C, BR-P, PR-P, and JS conducted the research; PM-A, PC, ED-G, JLF, and GRC performed the statistical analyses; EDG, JLF, and GRC wrote the manuscript; EDG, RV-C, BR-P, PR-P, PM-A, PC, JLF, JS, and GRC critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors reviewed and commented on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Edgar Denova-Gutiérrez or Gustavo Roberto Cointry.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The present study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki guidelines. The ethics and research committees of all participating institutions [Comité de Ética e Investigación, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (No.12CEI0900614); Comité de Ética e Investigación, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (No.13CEI1700736); Comité de Ética, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Médicas (No.1233008X0236)] reviewed and approved the study protocol and informed consent forms.

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Denova-Gutiérrez, E., Rivera-Paredez, B., Velázquez-Cruz, R. et al. Relationship between physical activity, lean body mass, and bone mass in the Mexican adult population. Arch Osteoporos 16, 94 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11657-021-00936-3

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