If you are above 50 years of age, be cautious! A new study says too much fat in your arms can put you at a higher risk of a spinach fracture. The research, presented at the European Congress of Endocrinology in Sweden recently, is the first to identify that the body composition of arms is associated with poor bone quality and health.

According to senior study author Dr. Eva Kassi, an endocrinologist and professor at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in Greece, the findings could better help identify high-risk individuals and further empower people to manage the amount of fat on their bodies.

“This could mean that the arm’s subcutaneous fat, which can be easily estimated even by the simple and inexpensive skin-fold caliper method, may emerge as a useful index of bone quality of the spine, possibly predicting the vertebrae fracture risk,” Kassi said in a news release.

The study incorporated 115 men and women who had no signs of any kind of arthritis with an average age of 62 years to determine their body fat and the bone quality of their spines.

According to experts, spinal fractures are the most common breakage fractures associated with osteoporosis - which causes a loss of bone mass and bone mineral density. However, many people are unaware of having osteoporosis, which weakens bones, until they get injured or get symptoms like severe pain and inflammation. For the study, the bone mineral density scores of the participants were measured through an imaging technique – dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry or DEXA along with a trabecular bone score, which helps assess your bone quality.

It was found that those with high amounts of excess body fat, especially visceral fat and fat under the skin in arms, had lower bone quality in their spine. The link between arm fat and spinal strength shocked researchers. “Surprisingly, we identified, for the first time, that the body composition of the arms—in particular, the fat mass of the arms—is negatively associated with the bone quality and strength of the vertebrae,” Kassi said in the news release.

Previous studies have also revealed that visceral fat is hormonally a more active component of the total body fat and produces molecules that provoke a low-grade inflammation – leading to bone issues. According to doctors, losing weight can help with bone health.

A few ways you can keep your bones strong include:

Regular physical activity helps create new tissue, which keeps the bones strong and fit/ Experts recommend doing weight-bearing exercises like walking, jogging, climbing stairs, dancing, jumping rope, and playing basketball that helps build strong bones and slow bone loss.

According to doctors, your diet should incorporate foods that are loaded with calcium and vitamin D – with lots of dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt, as well as fortified soy, rice, and oat drinks, tofu, sesame seeds, tahini, pulses, and green leafy vegetables.

You can get vitamin D from sunlight and supplements as well.

Completely quit smoking and drinking alcohol to reduce bone loss

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