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The fact that a child has big bones doesn’t necessarily mean that they have strong and denser bones. An increase in tummy fat levels among children causes a significant decrease of bone mineral density according to a new study. In addition, the research has also linked children obesity to the development of osteoporosis, a health condition that is increasingly becoming popular nowadays.

The importance of a healthy diet and exercises

According to the researchers, the only way to mitigate the negative health effects obesity among children is taking a healthy diet and exercising in order to stay active. Ismael Junior and a team of researchers tried to investigate if tummy fat in kids could impact the bone density in a negative way. The research was done on a group of 175 suffering from obesity aged between 6 and 16 years. Prior to the study, the children were inactive but had no any cardiovascular disease. Girls comprised more than half in the group and the researchers measured both the density and content of bone mineral among the participants. They used dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in getting informative photographs of the bone structure and surrounding tissues.

The ultrasounds of children were also taken by the researchers on their belly which aimed at measuring how thick their tissue, fat or adipose was. Actually, the research showed that weight, height, puberty stage and age were all linked to the density of bone mineral. However, the puberty status and age of the child didn’t seem to be associated with belly fat and bone density in anyway.

In short, the study clearly showed that the density of bone mineral among the participants was negatively affected by the obesity. This was evident in the young and adolescent children that participated in the research. As such, it was concluded that obesity has high chances of leading to osteoporosis development in adulthood.

How abdominal fat can harm you

According to the researchers, even skinny children could still have some hidden, unhealthy fat in their belly. Just like general obesity, abdominal fat can harm children in many other ways besides causing fragile bones. The fat puts children at an equally high health risk just like people with the usual big girth. Actually, fat in the belly will not just lie idle as it is usually active in the body. The fat easily breaks down to fatty acids that directly flow to the muscles and liver. Once the excessive fatty acids get drained to your liver, the fatty acid triggers a series of reactions especially in increasing levels of triglycerides and bad cholesterol. This process also makes insulin less effective when it comes to blood sugar control and resistance to insulin then sets in. this can result in development of adult diabetes which starts right from childhood.