Abstract
Owing to conflicting results of the association between body composition and bone mineral density (BMD), we investigated the relationship between fat mass (FM), lean mass (LM), and BMD in New Zealand postmenopausal women. We hypothesized that increased LM will indicate a higher BMD. A cross-sectional study was performed examining the associations between body composition, anthropometric measures, activity energy expenditure, and bone health status (using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry [DXA]). A total of 127 healthy postmenopausal women aged between 54 and 81 years. Both FM and LM were significantly associated with BMD at all sites. However, LM, not FM, was the strongest predictor of femoral neck (FN) BMD (β = 0.497, p < 0.001), hip BMD (β = 0.495, p < 0.001), spine BMD (β = 0.449, p < 0.001), and whole body BMD (β = 0.406, p < 0.001). Age was negatively associated with FN and hip BMD. LM was positively associated with FN, spine, hip, and whole body BMD. Our findings suggest the need to increase LM rather than FM highlighting the importance of physical activity for this age group.
Highlights
Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a disease of public health concern and due to its debilitating nature affects the aged, especially elderly women
These findings are similar to that of Casale et al.[13] and Sotunde et al.[12] in Pacific Island and black South African women, respectively, indicating that lean mass (LM) is the strongest predictor of bone mineral density (BMD)
In conclusion, our findings suggest that LM is the strongest predictor of BMD at all sites
Summary
Postmenopausal osteoporosis is a disease of public health concern and due to its debilitating nature affects the aged, especially elderly women. Many epidemiological studies have reported and suggested that both FM and LM may affect bone mass status especially in the aged group.[5,6] Adipose tissue is metabolically active; its effects on the bone or skeleton may be regulated by the weight-bearing effect as well as nonweight-bearing effects.[5] Examples of the nonweightbearing effect include the hormonal metabolism of the adipocytes, such as leptin, insulin-like growth factor 1, 1School of Food and Nutrition, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Studies have had a controversial report on whether being overweight and obese results in a detrimental or protective effect on bone health. Owing to the presence of conflicting findings in the relationship between body composition and bone density, this study will shed light in terms of New Zealand postmenopausal women’s perspective. Two research questions guided this study: (1) How are body composition measures such as fat or LM related to regional and whole body measures such as femoral, hip, spine, and whole body BMDs? (2) How does these regional and whole body measures relate to anthropometric variables such as weight and body mass index (BMI) as well as quantitative ultrasound sonometry (QUS) T-score and the activity energy expenditure (AEE)?
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