Association between weight cycling history and bone mineral density in premenopausal women.
The hypothesis that a history of one or more weight reductions and regains (weight cycling) is associated with lower site-specific bone mineral density (BMD) was examined in 169 premenopausal women, aged 29-46 years. Data on the previous 10-years' weight cycling history, present weight-bearing physical exercise, number of deliveries, present use of contraceptive pills or hormone-releasing coils, age at menarche and present menstrual status were collected by a self-administered questionnaire. Dietary intake was calculated from food records. The areal BMD (g/cm2) was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (Norland XR-26). The lumbar spine (L2-4) BMD, adjusted to weight and age at menarche (ANCOVA), was 0.062 g/cm2 (95% confidence interval: 0.015 to 0.011 g/cm2; p = 0.01) higher in the non-cyclers (n = 68) than in subjects with reported weight-cycling history (n = 101). The corresponding difference for femoral neck BMD was 0.019 g/cm2 (-0.018 to 0.056; p = 0.30), for trochanter BMD 0.013 g/cm2 (-0.025 to 0.05 g/cm2; p = 0.50) and for distal radius BMD 0.022 g/cm2 (0.006 to 0.397 g/cm2; p = 0.008). A pairwise comparison of 34 weight-matched subjects (non-cycler vs cycler) gave similar BMD differences as found in the above (ANCOVA) analyses. The results suggest that weight cycling might be associated with lower spine and distal radius BMD.
Fogelholm
M
M
UKK Institute, Tampere, Finland. mikael.fogelholm@uta.fi
Sievänen
H
H
Heinonen
A
A
Virtanen
M
M
Uusi-Rasi
K
K
Pasanen
M
M
Vuori
I
I
D000328:Adult; D015519:Bone Density / Q000502:physiology*; D003276:Contraceptives, Oral; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008572:Menarche; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology; D005082:Physical Exertion; D017697:Premenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D015430:Weight Gain; D015431:Weight Loss
D003276:Contraceptives, Oral