Abstract
Obesity has always been considered a protective factor for the skeleton and for osteoporosis. However, new epidemiologic and clinical data have shown that high level of fat mass might be a risk factor for osteoporosis and fragility fractures. Further, increasing evidences seem to indicate that the different components of metabolic syndrome (i.e. hypertension, increased triglycerides, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) are also potential risk factors for the development of low bone mineral density and osteoporosis.
References
Hu FB (2003) Overweight and obesity in women: health risk and consequences. J Women Health (Larchmt) 12(2):163–172
McTigue K, Larosn JC et al (2006) Mortality and cardiac and vascular outcomes in extremely obese women. JAMA 296(1):79–86
Rossner S (2002) Obesity: the disease of the twenty-first century. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 26:S2–S4
NIH Consensus Development Panel on Osteoporosis Prevention, Diagnosis, and Therapy (2001) Osteoporosis prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. JAMA 285:785–795
Jensen LB, Kollerup G et al (2001) Bone minerals changes in obese women during a moderate weight loss with and without calcium supplementation. JBMR 16(1):141–147
Bonewald LF, Jhonson ML (2008) Osteocytes, mechanosensing and Wnt signaling. Bone 42(4):606–615
Sawakami K, Robling AG et al (2006) The wnt co-receptor LRP5 is essential for skeletal mechanotransduction but not for the anabolic bone response to parathyroid hormone treatment. JBC 281(33):23698–23711
Premaor MO, Pilbrow L et al (2010) Obesity and fractures in postmenopausal women. JBMR 25(2):292–297
Greco EA, Fornari R et al (2010) Is obesity protective for osteoporosis? Evaluation of bone mineral density in individuals with high body mass index. Int J Clin Pract 64(6):817–820
Kim KC, Shin DH et al (2010) Relation between obesity and bone mineral density and vertebral fractures in Korean postmenopausal women. Yonsei Med J 51(6):857–863
Cinti S (2001) The adipose organ: endocrine aspects and insights from transgenic models. Eat Weight Disord 6S:4–8
Helberg N, Wernstedt-Amsterholm I, Scherer PE (2008) The adipocyte as an endocrine cell. Endocrinol Metab Clin N Am 37(3):753–768
Klein J, Perwitz N et al (2006) Adipose tissue as source and target of novel therapies. Trends Endocrinol Metab 17(1):26–32
Gomez-Ambrosi J, Rodriguez A et al (2008) The bone-adipose axis in obesity and weight loss. Obes Surg 18(9):1134–1143
Gimble JM, Zvonic S et al (2006) Playing with bone and fat. J Cellular Biochem 98:251–266
Kershaw EE, Flier JS (2004) Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ. JCEM 89(6):2548–2556
Kiefer FW, Zeyda M et al (2008) Osteopontin expression in human and murine obesity: extensive local up-regulation in adipose tissue but minimal systemic alterations. Endocrinology 149(3):1350–1357
Vendrell J, Broch M et al (2004) Resistin, adiponectin, ghrelin, leptin, and, inflammatory cytokines: relationship in obesity. Obes Res 12(6):962–971
Ye J, Keller JN (2010) Regulation of energy metabolism by inflammation: a feedback response in obesity and calorie restriction. Aging (Albany NY) 2(6):361–368
Calder PC, Ahluwalia N et al (2011) Dietary factors and low-grade inflammation in relation to overweight and obesity. Br J Nutr 106:S5–S78
Greco EA, Francomano D et al (2013) Negative association between trunk fat, insulin resistance and skeleton in obese women. World J Diabetes 4(2):31–39
Wortsman J, Matsuoka LY et al (2000) Decreased bioavailability of vitamin D in obesity. Am J Clin Nutr 72(3):690–693
Earthman CP, Beckman LM et al (2012) The link between obesity and low circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations: considerations and implications. Int J Obes 36(3):387–396
Bellia A, Garcovich G et al (2013) Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are inversely associated with systemic inflammation in severe obese subjects. Intern Emerg Med 8(1):33–40
Ferron M, McKee MD et al (2012) Intermittent injections of osteocalcin improve glucose metabolism and prevent type 2 diabetes in mice. Bone 50(2):568–575
Migliaccio S, Greco EA et al (2011) Is obesity in women protective against osteoporosis? Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes 4:273–282
Vilarrasa N, Vendrell J et al (2010) Is plasma 25(OH)D related to adipokines, inflammatory cytokines and insulin resistance in both a healthy and morbidly obese population? Endocrine 38(2):235–242
Lamendola CA, Ariel D et al (2012) Relations between obesity, insulin resistance, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Am J Clin Nutr 95(5):1055–1059
Albala C, Yáñez M et al (1996) Obesity as a protective factor for postmenopausal osteoporosis. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 20(11):1027–1032
Wardlaw GM (1996) Putting body weight and osteoporosis into perspective. Am J Clin Nutr 63(3 Suppl):433S–436S
Harford KA, Reynolds CM et al (2011) Fats, inflammation and insulin resistance: insights to the role of macrophage and T-cell accumulation in adipose tissue. Proc Nutr Soc 70(4):408–417
Sell H, Habich C, Eckel J (2012) Adaptive immunity in obesity and insulin resistance. Nat Rev Endocrinol 8(12):709–716
Gimble JM, Nuttall ME (2012) The relationship between adipose tissue and bone metabolism. Clin Biochem 45:874–879
Zhao LJ, Jiang H et al (2008) Correlation of obesity and osteoporosis: effect of fat mass on the determination of osteoporosis. JBMR 23(1):17–29
Schautz B, Later W et al (2011) Increases in central fat mass and decreases in peripheral fat mass are associated with accelerated arterial stiffening in healthy adults: the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 65(7):784–790
Barton M (2012) Childhood obesity: a life-long health risk. Acta Pharmacol Sin 33(2):189–193
Russell M, Mendes N et al (2010) Visceral fat is a negative predictor of bone density measures in obese adolescent girls. JCEM 95(3):1247–1255
Zaidi M, Buettner C et al (2012) Minireview: the link between fat and bone: does mass beget mass? Endocrinology 153(5):2070–2075
Schwetz V, Pieber T, Obermayer-Pietsch B (2012) The endocrine role of the skeleton: background and clinical evidence. Eur J Endocrinol 166(6):959–967
Conflict of interest
None.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Migliaccio, S., Greco, E.A., Fornari, R. et al. Skeletal alterations in women affected by obesity. Aging Clin Exp Res 25 (Suppl 1), 35–37 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-013-0090-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-013-0090-1