Decline in bone mass during weight loss: a cause for concern?

AL Schafer - Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2016 - academic.oup.com
AL Schafer
Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2016academic.oup.com
Clinicians spend countless hours counseling obese pa-tients about weight loss, and the
scientific literature is teeming with studies comparing the effectiveness of diets for attaining
and maintaining weight loss in the setting of obesity. Among bone and mineral researchers,
there is increasing interest in understanding the skeletal effects of both obesity and the
weight loss undertaken to treat it.(1, 2) However, the treatment of obesity is not the only
potential indication for caloric restriction (CR). For years, some individuals—many already at …
Clinicians spend countless hours counseling obese pa-tients about weight loss, and the scientific literature is teeming with studies comparing the effectiveness of diets for attaining and maintaining weight loss in the setting of obesity. Among bone and mineral researchers, there is increasing interest in understanding the skeletal effects of both obesity and the weight loss undertaken to treat it.(1, 2)
However, the treatment of obesity is not the only potential indication for caloric restriction (CR). For years, some individuals—many already at normal weight—have pursued CR with the desire to slow the biological rate of aging and to increase longevity.(3) This potential was explored in the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reduced Intake of Energy (CALERIE) phase 2 trial, a 2-year randomized controlled trial (RCT) that tested the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of CR in nonobese young and middle-aged adults. Effects on the primary outcomes of resting metabolic rate and core body temperature have been published.(4) In this issue of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, Villareal and colleagues (5) report the effects of the CR intervention on bone metabolism and BMD.
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