Childhood obesity has been a continuing problem of parents around the world. It can cause serious health issues such as diabetes, increased blood pressure, and a risk of having low self-esteem. Now, a new study at the University of Georgia revealed that there may be reason to believe that body fat and bone growth can be directly linked to each other.
The study found that excess body fat may jeopardize bone growth in children. Parents.com reported that the study's lead author, Joseph Kindler, who is a doctoral candidate at UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences' department of foods and nutrition said it is a common knowledge that children's bone growth is determined by their muscles. "Obese children will tend to have more muscle, so we would suspect that they would also have larger, stronger bones," he added.
The research team analyzed a previous finding to give an updated look at how muscles influence bone geometry and strength in childhood days. They were interested in checking how big and strong the bones are, specifically for children and adolescents, because the geometry of the bone can determine that. The role of fat in these relationships was also analyzed.
According to the research, obese children will most likely have more muscles, making it safe to assume that they would have larger and stronger bones. However, what the researchers found confused them. News.uga.edu reported said the researchers discovered that excess body fat that goes with obesity can be deposited within the muscles. There are evidence suggesting that the fat within the muscle can affect how the bone grows.
The excess fat within the muscle and how it can influence muscle and bone relationship in children is still being further investigated, however it is clear that the two have a direct connection, Kindler said. "It's an emerging area of research," he said.
While studying the different ways to measure bone, mostly using bone geometry than bone density, researchers were able to pinpoint the spatial distribution of the bone and how bone minerals are tightly packed in someone's body. They were also able to identify areas of improvement in the study.
"This paper summarizes the literature that's been published. We know that muscle is such an important contributor to bone development," Kindler said. "But it also shows that our understanding of how fat influences these relationships is still unclear."
