Could Your Bone Health Be The Reason You Can’t Lose That Stubborn Belly Fat?

Excessive belly fat and obesity is often associated with increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. But did you know that belly fat has been linked to osteoporosis as well? A recent study in the Journal Bone found that 50 obese women aged 30 were evaluated.

They underwent a computed tomography (CT) scan to measure bone loss, and a magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy was used to evaluate the amount of fat in the marrow of their bones.

The researchers measured:

Bone density

Visceral belly fat (fat under the skin all over)
Subcutaneous fat (fat within the bone); and,
Total fat

The study found that women with more belly fat had increased bone marrow fat and lowered bone density than women with fat elsewhere. This suggested increased marrow fat made bones weaker. That means subcutaneous fat, hip fat, thigh fat, arm fat, and other body fat was not linked to bone density issues.

Researchers are unsure why visceral fat in particular is worse for your body than subcutaneous fat.

Improve your Bone Health

One of the most powerful tools for weight loss (which helps remove visceral fat) is getting a good night’s sleep. When we sleep, we’re fasting but our bodies still work to keep us alive. If we’re not getting enough sleep, those processes will work against us. Leptin helps regulate body weight and control your appetite. It’s released by fat cells while we sleep and encourages fat storages to burn, and sends messages about energy balances to the brain. Ghrelin is a peptide that is released by the stomach that helps regulate energy balance and stimulate fat storage and food intake. For more information about proper sleep and how it helps with weight loss click here.

In order to keep your body healthy, you should consider taking calcium or magnesium supplements, eating green leafy vegetables full of Vitamin K1 and K2, avoid pasteurized dairy and soda, and obviously, try to live a healthier more holistic lifestyle.

Building strong bones is important when bone density is at risk. Vitamin D controls our ability to absorb calcium and regulate cell growth. Sufficient Vitamin D intake is associated with cancer prevention, and bone strengthening.

Mushrooms are filled with Vitamin D, fortified soy and almond milk are usually filled with vegan Vitamin D2, sunlight (30 minutes twice per week) enables our body to make a safe amount of Vitamin D, plant derived Vitamin D3 supplements, and tofu is also filled with Vitamin D.